AT&T shares dropped 8% on Friday after a Bloomberg report said SpaceX is negotiating access to at least 80,000 U.S. cell sites, a step that could underpin a direct challenge to the incumbent wireless carriers. The move coincided with a broader selloff that pushed the stock below nine times projected 2026 earnings.
Starlink scales up
SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told analysts on the Oct. 20 earnings call that Starlink Mobile’s monthly users surged 37% to more than 22 million. The service links standard smartphones to the company’s low-Earth orbit constellation. SpaceX recently secured a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses, which it says will allow Starlink Mobile to become a major U.S. carrier. Elon Musk said the firm will build out a terrestrial network to provide connectivity wherever it is permitted to operate.
AT&T posts steady gains
While the market priced in a long-term threat, AT&T’s third quarter showed continued momentum. The company added 379,000 postpaid phone subscribers, 442,000 fiber customers and 327,000 fixed wireless users. Revenue rose 5% to $32.3 billion, and management raised full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $2.40 a share.
Cash flow trajectory unchanged
AT&T projects free cash flow climbing to more than $21 billion in 2028 from $18 billion this year. Building a nationwide rival would require tens of billions of dollars and years of deployment, a timeline that likely extends well past the horizon implied by Friday’s price action.