--- title: Verizon CEO says SpaceX would need $500B to compete in... description: Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says SpaceX would need up to $500 billion, 80,000 cell towers and up to eight years to build a US mobile network matching Verizon's.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Verizon CEO says SpaceX would need $500B to compete in US wireless | daily.dev og:description: Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says SpaceX would need up to $500 billion, 80,000 cell towers and up to eight years to build a US mobile network matching Verizon's.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Z2dONMhQk.png og:image:alt: Verizon CEO says SpaceX would need $500B to compete in US wireless og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Verizon CEO says SpaceX would need $500B to compete in US wireless **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says SpaceX would need up to $500 billion, 80,000 cell towers and up to eight years to build a US mobile network matching Verizon's. He said SpaceX is somewhere between '100 to 1000 times' less efficient than Verizon, and that satellites alone cannot compete in towns and cities, where about 98% of Verizon's revenue comes from. Elon Musk disagreed on X, saying it 'will take 2 or 3 years'. SpaceX's $8B low-band spectrum deal already sent Verizon's shares down 8.8%, their worst day since 2002. Verizon itself added 406,000 postpaid phone customers last quarter and raised its full-year targets. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much would it cost SpaceX to build a US wireless network that competes with Verizon? Verizon CEO Dan Schulman estimated SpaceX would need up to $500 billion and as many as 80,000 large cell towers, linked by satellites and fiber, taking at least four to six years and up to eight years total, plus stores, customer service and back-office systems. Elon Musk disputed the timeline, saying it will take 2 or 3 years. _Those tracking the Starlink-versus-carrier wireless race follow claims like these as they develop on daily.dev._ ### Why did Verizon's stock drop 8.8% in a single day? Verizon shares fell 8.8%, their worst day since 2002, after SpaceX's deal to buy low-band spectrum for about $8 billion. The move came alongside reports that SpaceX wants 80,000 US cell sites for its own mobile network, raising investor concern about new competition for traditional carriers. _Investors and engineers weighing telecom disruption risk follow stories like SpaceX's spectrum deal on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [SpaceX seeks 80,000 US cell sites for a mobile network, Bloomberg reports](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-seeks-80-000-us-cell-sites-for-a-mobile-network-bloomberg-reports-y4vh28x6a) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Starlink wants to be your next mobile operator](https://daily.dev/posts/starlink-wants-to-be-your-next-mobile-operator-lrwzemhn6) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Starlink lines up a frontal assault on mobile operators](https://daily.dev/posts/starlink-lines-up-a-frontal-assault-on-mobile-operators-cj0ofkema) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [SpaceX wants to sell Starlink phone service directly to US consumers](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-wants-to-sell-starlink-phone-service-directly-to-us-consumers-2ts1lcm87) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#spacex](https://daily.dev/tags/spacex) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Verizon CEO says SpaceX would need $500B to compete in US wireless","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T18:58:04.351Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T19:06:00.284Z","description":"Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says SpaceX would need up to $500 billion, 80,000 cell towers and up to eight years to build a US mobile network matching Verizon's....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6b61a178cbb5b0e5d4f1cf2149f7bfc7?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6b61a178cbb5b0e5d4f1cf2149f7bfc7?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"spacex","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Verizon CEO says SpaceX would need $500B to compete in US wireless"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/verizon-ceo-says-spacex-would-need-500b-to-compete-in-us-wireless-z2donmhqk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much would it cost SpaceX to build a US wireless network that competes with Verizon?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Verizon CEO Dan Schulman estimated SpaceX would need up to $500 billion and as many as 80,000 large cell towers, linked by satellites and fiber, taking at least four to six years and up to eight years total, plus stores, customer service and back-office systems. Elon Musk disputed the timeline, saying it will take 2 or 3 years. Those tracking the Starlink-versus-carrier wireless race follow claims like these as they develop on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Verizon's stock drop 8.8% in a single day?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Verizon shares fell 8.8%, their worst day since 2002, after SpaceX's deal to buy low-band spectrum for about $8 billion. The move came alongside reports that SpaceX wants 80,000 US cell sites for its own mobile network, raising investor concern about new competition for traditional carriers. Investors and engineers weighing telecom disruption risk follow stories like SpaceX's spectrum deal on daily.dev."}}]} ```