SpaceX Gains 4% on Reported Boost Mobile Talks That Could Give It “The Reach to Compete”

Key Takeaways

• SpaceX shares rose 4% today on a report that it's in talks to buy EchoStar's Boost Mobile or use its network.

• A deal would hand Starlink Mobile millions of subscribers more than a year before SpaceX's own service is due.

• Boost leases its network from AT&T and T-Mobile, and T-Mobile's CEO has ruled out a network deal with SpaceX.

• Watch for any word from EchoStar or the carriers on Boost's leases.

SpaceX ( SPCX:NASDAQ )shares are up 4% today after The Washington Post reported that the company is in talks to buy Boost Mobile from EchoStar ( ECHO:NASDAQ ), or to use its network. Boost leases that network from AT&T ( T:NYSE )and T-Mobile ( TMUS:NASDAQ ).

Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money, posted on X that the Boost possibility "would end any question that it doesn't have the reach to compete."

A head start for Starlink Mobile

EchoStar's wireless business ended June with 7.4 million subscribers. That's more than half the 13.6 million Starlink consumer subscribers SpaceX had at the end of September.

SpaceX now expects its own next-generation Starlink Mobile service in early 2028, later than the end of 2027 it pointed to in August.

AT&T and T-Mobile hold the keys

The Post reported that Musk asked the big carriers for network access and was turned down, and that Boost's leases may not pass to a new owner without their approval.

"I see no room for an MVNO with SpaceX," T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan said on its Oct. 28 earnings call. It has reason to be wary: its postpaid account churn rose to 1.09% in the third quarter from 0.97% a year earlier.

AT&T is in a stronger spot, with postpaid phone churn of 0.92% in the third quarter and a raised 2026 adjusted EPS outlook. Does Boost's contract give it the chance to say no again?

EchoStar has the least to lose. Analysts expect its revenue to fall 5% this year, and it already owns a stake in SpaceX from last year's spectrum sale. Selling Boost would turn a shrinking business into cash or more SpaceX exposure.

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Wall Street already expects a lot

Analysts expect SpaceX's revenue to climb from $48.9 billion this year to $336 billion in 2028:

The stock traded at 48x forward earnings at Friday's close, and it's even higher after today's jump.

Boost would give SpaceX the reach Cramer is talking about, years before it could build it alone. But with T-Mobile saying no and AT&T reportedly doing the same, I'd want to see the carriers sign off before paying up for a wireless business SpaceX doesn't have yet.