Verizon's Worst Day Since 2002 as SpaceX Buys Spectrum — SkimNews
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- SpaceX announced an agreement to purchase a nationwide spectrum portfolio from Grain Management, including up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band, per a Thursday statement
- Verizon shares fell roughly 10%, pacing for their worst day since 2002, while T-Mobile dropped 13% and AT&T declined about 10% — each heading for their worst sessions since 2013 and 2000, respectively
- SpaceX stock climbed about 1% on the day, bucking the sell-off that hammered the incumbent wireless carriers
- FCC Chair Brendan Carr called spectrum market competition "really good news for American consumers" and told CNBC over $100 billion of spectrum would enter the market over the next two years, adding the agency won't "pick winners and losers"
- Evercore ISI analysts said SpaceX "now has the outline of a real network" alongside its existing satellite capabilities, while J.P. Morgan wrote that the acquisition made Starlink Mobile's long-term opportunity "more credible"
- J.P. Morgan tempered the enthusiasm in the same note, cautioning that "limited near-term risk" remains for U.S. wireless incumbents given the time, infrastructure, and capital required to build a competitive terrestrial network
Why it matters: Verizon's ~10% drop and T-Mobile's 13% plunge mark multi-year lows for the carriers, but J.P. Morgan's note explicitly tempers the panic — analysts wrote there is "limited near-term risk" to incumbents given the infrastructure and capital required, meaning the long-term opportunity for Starlink Mobile just became more credible while the immediate competitive threat remains distant.
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