SpaceX, through Starlink, is an Internet service provider. In fact, that is the Only profitable division at SpaceX.
But, in general, it does not generate profits. Is free cash flow by 2025 was negative 9.1 billion dollars. According to its prospectus, it still foresees $28.5 billion.addressable market.” If you want to know SpaceX’s plans to make money in the future in the words of CEO Elon Musk himself, have in it. The plan involves an AI that learns from ancient aliens, and in this blogger’s opinion, it’s gibberish.
But right now, you can, more or less, sign up for SpaceX as a mobile provider. T-Satellite from T-Mobile with Starlink uses SpaceX satellites to fill coverage gaps.
Last year, in a move baffling to most people (including myself, honestly), SpaceX paid 17 billion dollars to Dish Network’s parent company, Echostar, to get a large amount of wireless spectrum. Frequencies are a finite and heavily regulated resource. It’s a bit like buying real estate in the form of permission to use certain wavelengths.
But a plan is taking shape for SpaceX to become a consumer-oriented mobile provider. As noted by BloombergSpaceX has been in talks with Charter Communications, owner of Internet service provider Spectrum. Spectrum’s many, many cables are used in part to route data for cell phones, which are more reliant on cables than you might think.
According to Bloomberg, “a deal, if finalized, would help SpaceX on its desired path to becoming more of a direct-to-consumer mobile provider.” That’s why he bought Echostar frequencies.
And since SpaceX already provides a coverage gap service to T-Mobile, you can definitely see the case that SpaceX’s own provider would be better than many of the others at providing coverage in hard-to-reach areas. has other spectrum gaps you would need to fill to be competitivebut a SpaceX mobile network looks increasingly plausible in the future.
This doesn’t quite explain the $28.5 trillion thing, but it’s also nothing.
