--- title: "Why AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile shares are down after SpaceX's earnings" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/295019395.md" description: "Shares of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile declined following SpaceX's Q2 earnings call, where executives outlined plans to disrupt major wireless carriers using satellite technology without massive infrastructure investments. SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell stated Starlink aims to acquire significant customer share by leveraging EchoStar spectrum and next-gen satellites. Bernstein analysts noted this threat could overhang the telecom sector for years, though they remain skeptical about immediate market share gains." datetime: "2026-08-05T21:29:02.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/295019395.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/295019395.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/295019395.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Why AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile shares are down after SpaceX's earnings By Julian Torres SpaceX thinks it will be able to build wireless capabilities without massive network investments SpaceX has been a thorn in the side of telecommunications investors. Major wireless executives have brushed off Starlink's threat to their businesses, but SpaceX's latest commentary has investors worried anew. On SpaceX's (SPCX) second-quarter earnings call, executives discussed plans to leverage the company's EchoStar (ECHO) spectrum and advance its satellite capabilities in order to disrupt major wireless carriers without massive infrastructure investments. "I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers," SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said on Tuesday's earnings call. "In fact, in the years ahead, we expect Starlink will represent a significant portion of global internet traffic." Shares of AT&T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ) and T-Mobile (TMUS) all declined on Wednesday as the market calibrated the impact of SpaceX's comments. The takeaway for telecom investors: SpaceX's threat to broadband and wireless incumbents "could remain an overhang on the sector for years rather than quarters," Bernstein analysts said in a research note. What's spooking wireless stocks SpaceX outlined a clear path to competing with the three biggest wireless companies after reporting surging growth for its satellite connectivity services. In the second quarter, the company picked up 1.7 million more Starlink subscribers and generated 108% year-over-year growth in enterprise and government revenue. As Starlink chases ambitious wireless targets, the greatest force working against it has been its uncertain path to establishing a cellular connection comparable to what the three major providers offer on the ground. Wireless executives have said that doing so would require hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investments to compete. But Shotwell directly dismissed that concern on Tuesday's earnings call. "You don't have to necessarily spend many billions of dollars in low-band spectrum all upfront before you deploy your system," she said. Shotwell added that SpaceX has many ideas about how it can modify its existing infrastructure to compete with the big wireless carriers in a more capital-efficient way. Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, said that the company would rely on a mix of small scattered dishes and Starlink antennas on the roofs of houses and businesses to "provide connectivity that is probably better and higher bandwidth than what is currently available from cellular providers." To help accomplish that, Shotwell said SpaceX is deploying 10 times as many of its next-generation Broadband V3 satellites, which are 10 times more capable than current models. In 2027, SpaceX will also launch its Mobile V2 satellites. Shotwell said that combining more mobile satellites with the approved 65-MHz EchoStar spectrum will make Starlink Mobile's capabilities 100 times better than the current 5-MHz system. Musk said he expects enterprise revenue, including corporate and government customers, to substantially exceed consumer revenue. Bernstein analysts noted that this commercial business tends to come with higher revenue quality and stronger economics. "Enterprise revenue is quite sticky," Shotwell said. "We have never lost an enterprise customer." What analysts say Analysts at Bernstein think that Starlink remains a credible and long-term competitor in the lower-end broadband market, but they have a skeptical view of SpaceX's ability to deploy wireless services in practice. The analysts don't believe Starlink is poised to take meaningful share from incumbent wireless operators anytime soon - though they acknowledged that as long as Starlink continues to increase its service quality and aggressively compete on price, it will cloud over the telecommunications sector. -Julian Torres This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. 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