The rumor has been around for a long time - now it's becoming a certainty. Elon Musk's space company SpaceX is pushing into the mobile phone market. This puts the securities of the telecom companies under pressure. Experts are still skeptical as to whether the deal will have a quick impact.
SpaceX and its satellite subsidiary Starlink are increasingly pushing into the US mobile communications market. And that puts considerable pressure on Telekom shares in this country. Billionaire Elon Musk's space company announced that it had secured a nationwide portfolio of mobile phone frequencies. In the future, the company will be able to offer satellite-supported voice and Internet connections via standard smartphones. To date, Starlink has mostly relied on cooperation with traditional telecommunications companies such as T-Mobile. Their shares plummeted in response to the transaction - and dragged the mother's shares in the DAX with them.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, SpaceX took over a frequency spectrum in the 800 megahertz range from the financial investor Grain for eight billion dollars. These radio frequencies are not suitable for data-intensive applications. However, they enable connections in areas with many obstacles such as urban canyons or forests.
“We expect SpaceX to offer a very attractive Starlink broadband and cellular package,” wrote analysts at research firm William Blair. They even thought it was possible that the artificial intelligence (AI) “Grok” from SpaceX’s xAI division would be included in it. Brendan Carr, head of the US telecommunications regulator FCC, welcomed the spectrum purchase. "We will see more investment and more opportunities for a variety of providers, and America will lead the world in next-generation technologies - to the benefit of consumers across the country."
His authority must approve the current transaction. A few days ago she gave SpaceX the green light to launch 15,000 satellites that are optimized for mobile communications in the two gigahertz range. Starlink secured this frequency spectrum worldwide last year for $19.6 billion. Satellite telephony via standard smartphones is becoming increasingly important. To date, special devices have mostly been used for conversations and data transmissions in rough terrain or in disaster areas, but their antennas require a clear view of the sky.
The prospect of increased competition made the shareholders of the traditional telecommunications companies AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon nervous. The shares of these companies each fell by around six percent in after-hours trading on Wall Street. The stocks of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom even lost more than eight percent in some cases and were heading for their biggest daily loss in three and a half years.
A Verizon spokesman tried to allay investors' concerns. "This company may have a lot of frequencies, but without a corresponding cellular network it doesn't matter. It's just unused radio frequencies." According to analyst Graham Hunt from the investment bank Jefferies, Starlink could become another customer of cell tower operators such as American Tower. Their shares rose after trading in the USA.
SpaceX's accelerated efforts to build a mobile network will not pose a short-term threat to established US providers, says Sebastiano Petti of JP Morgan. The risk for the established players is limited, considering the time and investment that SpaceX needs to become more competitive, he continues. However, sentiment could turn against incumbents as investors prepare for the presence of a new entrant.
In addition to Deutsche Telekom, other European mobile operators such as Vodafone and Telefonica also came under pressure. The industry index was threatened with a temporary loss of 3.4 percent, the largest daily decline in a year and a half. Starlink could also appear as a competitor in this country in the medium term, as the new allocation of mobile phone frequencies for satellite operators is imminent. However, the European Union (EU) wants to reserve two thirds of the spectrum for domestic providers.
