SpaceX Explores Buying EchoStar's Boost Mobile or Using Its Network, Lifting SPCX and ECHO

SPCX is in talks to buy EchoStar's Boost Mobile or to gain access to its wireless network, The Washington Post reported on Monday, according to Reuters. The talks reportedly gained momentum after Elon Musk met EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month. SpaceX and EchoStar did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment, and no terms or timetable have been reported.

Both stocks moved. ECHO rose roughly 3.4% to 4% in premarket trading, depending on the timestamp. SpaceX opened at $137.04 and traded at $140.46 at 9:57 a.m. ET, up 4.3% from Friday's $134.72 close and back above its $135 IPO price after a 6.4% drop on Friday. By early afternoon the gains had narrowed: SPCX was up about 3.3% at $139.16 and ECHO up about 2.7% at $99.53, per SentiSense quotes (15-minute delayed). Part of the SpaceX move was market-wide, since the Nasdaq, down 2.9% on Friday, was up 0.7% in early trade. Carriers dipped before the open, with TMUS down 2% and T and VZ edging lower.

The strategic logic is distribution. EchoStar had about 7.38 million wireless customers at the end of the second quarter, mostly through Boost Mobile and Gen Mobile, an existing subscriber base and retail network for a hybrid satellite-and-terrestrial service aimed at a market MoffettNathanson values at about $235 billion, according to the Post. MarketWatch notes Boost is only the latest of several acquisition targets floated as SpaceX's cellular ambitions have grown. SpaceX has also been assembling spectrum: in September 2025 it agreed to buy EchoStar's AWS-4 and H-block licenses for about $17 billion in cash and stock, and last month it agreed to buy about $8 billion of wireless spectrum licenses, 800 MHz licenses that came from Grain Management rather than EchoStar.

The obstacles are real. Boost relies on network capacity leased from AT&T and T-Mobile, and those agreements may not transfer automatically to a new owner, so a deal could require the carriers' cooperation or approval. Yahoo Finance reported that Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile each rejected Musk's earlier request for network access. Building terrestrial infrastructure, supporting handsets and running customer service would also require meaningful investment even after customers are acquired. The next signals to watch are whether the talks become formal, how AT&T and T-Mobile respond, and whether SpaceX buys Boost outright or partners for network access.