SpaceX is reportedly seeking access to at least 80,000 cellular sites in the United States for its planned Starlink Mobile network, according to Bloomberg’s report republished by Yahoo Finance on October 23, 2026. The report describes discussions with Crown Castle and at least one other infrastructure company.

Ground sites are part of the planned network

SpaceX’s plan pairs satellite connectivity with terrestrial infrastructure. Elon Musk has described plans to develop ground networks, and Bloomberg reported that SpaceX also planned to use existing residential internet equipment to send mobile signals near customer sites.

That approach depends in part on where residential customers are located. MoffettNathanson raised the concern that those locations may not align with the sites needed for uniform mobile coverage.

The reported site effort follows a separate spectrum agreement. For background, see NeoTeo’s earlier coverage of SpaceX’s agreement to acquire U.S. 800 MHz spectrum.

The FCC authorization comes with conditions

On October 6, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted and released a partial, conditional order authorizing Space Exploration Holdings, LLC to deploy and operate a constellation of 15,000 non-geostationary-orbit (NGSO) satellites. The FCC order covers satellite operations in the United States under specified terms.

For operations in the 2 GHz MSS/AWS-4, AWS-H Block, and AWS-3 bands, the order makes SpaceX’s authority conditional on completion of Step Two of the SpaceX–EchoStar transaction.

Satellite deployment dates and the service forecast

The FCC set two constellation milestones: by October 7, 2032, 50% of the authorized maximum must be launched, placed in assigned orbits, and operating; the remaining satellites required to complete the constellation must be launched by October 7, 2035. Those dates govern satellite deployment.

Citi’s outlook for national wireless service is a separate forecast. Barron’s reported that Citi expects a launch no earlier than 2029; that is an analyst outlook, not a SpaceX schedule.