SpaceX Hits Back at T-Mobile’s ‘Misplaced Desire’ to Harm Starlink by Opposing ‘Modernized’ Spectrum Rules

Elon Musk stands in front of a dark background with the logos for Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and X. (Credit: Image via Shutterstock)

Badar Shaikh

Sat, October 31, 2026 at 4:30 PM EDT 5 min read

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Billionaire Elon Musk-led Space Exploration Technologies Corp.slammed legacy telecom operators like T-Mobile US Inc.in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the agency's proposed spectrum rule changes.

SpaceX Slams 'Misplaced Desire'

In the letter dated October 28, SpaceX said that the agency should reject the "technically unsound recommendations from the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council (AFTRCC) and T-Mobile," which want power limits on satellite transmissions, saying the signals could interfere with flight telemetry tracking systems.

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"Unfortunately, the misplaced desire to harm a competitor has led many incumbents to oppose modernized rules that would bring direct-to-cell service to underserved border communities," SpaceX said.

"AFTRCC is now purely a lobbying organization whose mission is to protect legacy companies and their comments should
not be viewed as independent or objective," SpaceX alleged in the letter.

Base Station Protection

SpaceX also slammed T-Mobile's base station protection demands, which, the commercial space flight giant says, would create 250-mile-wide buffer zones around cell towers, which would lead to "disenfranchising millions from direct-to-
cell service in the countries where the limit is applied."

SpaceX urged the FCC to reject the base station protection plea from T-Mobile. SpaceX also said that the cell tower antennas were directional and therefore "inherently more resilient to interference" from satellite signals and transmissions. "The Commission should not adopt T-Mobile's proposed limits for base-station protection," SpaceX said in the letter.

Earlier this month, Musk had predicted that the telecom industry was about to experience an "earthquake" after SpaceX acquired 800 MHz spectrum.

Verizon CEO on SpaceX

The letter comes as Verizon Communications Inc.CEO Dan Schulman, during the telecom operator's recent Q3 2026 earnings call, said that SpaceX would have to spend $500 billion to compete with traditional cellular service providers.

Other telecom company executives have also been skeptical of SpaceX's cellular service, which would rely on femtocells, which are small cellular base stations that improve connectivity.

AT&T Inc.'s CEO John Stankeyhad dismissed Starlink's mobile service talks, saying that the technology had to overcome regulatory hurdles, as well as technological limitations.

On the other hand, T-Mobile's CFO Pete Osvaldikalso remained skeptical about Starlink's threat to telecom operators. "You can have a million satellites up there with all the spectrum in the world; you can't break the fundamental laws of physics," he said.

Image via Shutterstock

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