--- title: "Telco Stocks VZ, T, and TMUS Fall on Another SpaceX Wireless Push — Should Investors Worry?" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/302860731.md" description: "Shares of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile fell over 3% after a Bloomberg report revealed SpaceX is expanding its Starlink wireless network by leasing cell sites and acquiring spectrum. Despite the market reaction, analysts from Bank of America and Bernstein believe Starlink poses no short-term threat due to technological hurdles and slowing subscriber growth. While long-term competitive pressure may increase as Starlink becomes more profitable, T-Mobile remains the top analyst pick with a 'Strong Buy' rating." datetime: "2026-10-23T10:06:18.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/302860731.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302860731.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/302860731.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Telco Stocks VZ, T, and TMUS Fall on Another SpaceX Wireless Push — Should Investors Worry? Shares of leading U.S. telco operators Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), and T-Mobile U.S. (TMUS) fell in after-hours trading on Thursday. The stocks continued to trend lower in Friday's pre-market session, all down more than 3%. The latest decline follows a *Bloomberg report* that rocket giant SpaceX (SPCX) is pressing on with its wireless network push. The company's Starlink satellite communication unit is reportedly engaging in talks to lease at least 80,000 cell sites across the U.S. However, Wall Street analysts believe Starlink's expansion push will not challenge these traditional carriers in the short term. ## **SpaceX Doubles Down on Hybrid Network Push** Starlink was founded in 2015. It began providing its satellite network service in October 2020, primarily targeting rural and remote areas. However, the SpaceX subsidiary is now racing to expand its service with a traditional ground wireless network. In other words, the company is building a hybrid network infrastructure. The latest on Starlink's wireless push comes about two weeks after SpaceX announced an $8 billion deal with Grain Management. The company agreed to buy 800 MHz of low-band spectrum from the investment firm. This spectrum travels far and can penetrate buildings, positioning Starlink to compete directly with the three traditional carriers. Notably, SpaceX said the deal will enable its Starlink Mobile satellite business to "become a major mobile carrier in the U.S." ## **Why Analysts See No Short-Term Pressure** This week, Bank of America analyst Michael Funk reaffirmed his Buy rating on AT&T stock. He set a price target of $34, predicting about 50% upside. Funk believes that Starlink poses no threat to the telco operator for now. "Our view is unchanged that Starlink wireless service is not a near-term threat, faces technological hurdles to provide expected service quality and could focus on emerging AI-related total addressable market to a greater degree than traditional wireless service," Funk argued. Similarly, Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon weighed in on the U.S. telecom industry this week. Yoon pointed to SpaceX's latest results, noting that Starlink subscriber growth is slowing. Subscribers grew to 13.6 million but fell short of expectations of 14.2 million. Growth also slowed to 13% from 17% last quarter. Yoon believes this shows Starlink is not aggressively taking market share to threaten fixed wireless access or cable broadband operators. In the near term, competitive pressure is limited. However, Starlink's improving profitability could pose a long-term challenge. "Starlink is becoming increasingly profitable before the arrival of its next major capacity step-up with V3 satellites, allowing Starlink to consider aggressive pricing to compete for share," Yoon noted. "We continue to believe the question is not whether Starlink competes on price, but when." ## **Which Telco Stock Is the Best Buy?** T-Mobile U.S. (TMUS) stands out among the telco stocks, according to TipRanks' Stock Comparison tool. Analysts rate TMUS a Strong Buy. It carries a leading 41% upside potential. The upside is based on the average price target of $223.70. ### Related Stocks - [SPCX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCX.US.md) - [T.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/T.US.md) - [TMUS.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TMUS.US.md) - [VZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/VZ.US.md) - [DSPC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DSPC.US.md) - [LOFF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/LOFF.US.md) - [SNK.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SNK.US.md) - [SPAL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPAL.US.md) - [SPCF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCF.US.md) - [SPCG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCG.US.md) - [SPCH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCH.US.md) - [SPCM.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCM.US.md) - [SPCU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SPCU.US.md) - [SSPC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SSPC.US.md) - [YSPC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/YSPC.US.md) - [BAC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BAC.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [SpaceX Bulls Get Louder After Q3 Earnings Print, But One Firm Flags $475B Funding Gap](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302596793.md) - [BUZZ-Street View: AT&T dodges near-term Starlink storm, longer-term clouds remain](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302718021.md) - [Verizon Earnings Prediction Market Preview: What Will Dan Schulman Say as SpaceX Fears Mount?](https://longbridge.com/en/news/303075024.md) - [Verizon Stock Forecast: VZ Holds Above $43.07 Into Q3 Earnings as SpaceX Eyes a Fourth Carrier](https://longbridge.com/en/news/303055849.md) - [SpaceX's super intelligence segment just made the stock a must-own](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302971013.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**