Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX is reportedly in talks to buy EchoStar’s Boost Mobile or use its network, a path that could speed its push to turn Starlink Mobile into a full U.S. wireless player after its $17 billion EchoStar spectrum deal.
According to The Washington Post, the rocket company has held talks with EchoStar in recent months about launching its own wireless service through a deal involving Boost. Elon Musk has been personally involved and met EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.
Boost Mobile does not run its own towers. It leases capacity from AT&T and T-Mobile, so any sale or network-access deal may need those carriers’ consent, the Post said. EchoStar had about 7.4 million wireless subscribers at the end of the second quarter, mostly on Boost and Gen Mobile, Reuters noted.
Musk has also approached Verizon and other major carriers in recent months seeking network access so SpaceX can sell its own phone service, the Post reported. Buying Boost or tapping its leased network would give SpaceX a retail brand and distribution footing in a U.S. wireless market the newspaper pegged at about $235 billion.
Neither SpaceX nor EchoStar has publicly confirmed the discussions.
The companies already share a deeper wireless tie. In September 2025, EchoStar agreed to sell SpaceX its AWS-4 and H-block licenses for about $17 billion in cash and stock, with a long-term commercial pact meant to let Boost customers reach Starlink Direct to Cell through EchoStar’s cloud-native 5G core. Regulators later cleared that spectrum path, and SpaceX has kept stacking the pieces for a hybrid satellite-and-ground carrier, including an 800 MHz low-band purchase and reported talks for tens of thousands of U.S. cell sites.
No price, structure or timeline for a Boost deal has been disclosed, and nothing in the report says a transaction is done. Would you switch your phone plan if Starlink Mobile arrived through Boost?
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