SpaceX in talks over Boost Mobile as Musk eyes US phone market

Elon Musk's SpaceX has held talks with EchoStar about buying Boost Mobile or using its network to launch its own mobile phone service, The Washington Post reported, after the major U.S. carriers rebuffed Musk's request for network access.

SpaceX is in talks to buy Boost Mobile or gain access to its wireless network as Elon Musk seeks to launch a mobile phone service that would compete with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

Musk approached the heads of the top U.S. telecom companies in recent months, asking them to give SpaceX access to their networks so it could start its own phone service, but was rebuffed, according to the report. Musk has been personally involved in the talks with EchoStar and met its chairman, Charlie Ergen, last month.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches a batch of Starlink satellites (file photo)

EchoStar had 7.38 million wireless subscribers at the end of the second quarter, mainly through Boost Mobile and Gen Mobile. Boost relies on network capacity leased from AT&T and T-Mobile, and those agreements may not automatically transfer to SpaceX under new ownership, the Post reported.

SpaceX has been building up its Starlink Mobile ambitions, which aim to combine satellite connectivity with ground-based networks. In September 2025 it agreed to buy wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for about $17 billion, a deal that also gave Boost subscribers access to Starlink's direct-to-cell service. In October it agreed to acquire a low-band spectrum portfolio for about $8 billion, Reuters reported.