SpaceX has made its ambitions clear: it does not just want to be a satellite internet provider—it wants to compete head-to-head with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the U.S. wireless market. To make that happen, the company has turned to Qualcomm for the terrestrial infrastructure needed to build Starlink Mobile's national 5G network.
SpaceX has selected Qualcomm's Dragonwing Cellular Infrastructure platforms for Starlink Mobile's nationwide terrestrial 5G rollout. The network's base stations will be built on the Dragonwing QRU100 and QDU100 platforms, paired with Qualcomm's commercial-grade Layer 1 software.
The design will use Massive MIMO radio units with 64 transmit and 64 receive paths, known as 64T64R. According to Qualcomm, that configuration is intended to improve coverage, network capacity, and spectral efficiency. The QRU100 handles processing for the radio units, while the QDU100 is focused on latency-sensitive Layer 1 processing. Together, the platforms are meant to help Starlink Mobile deliver stronger performance per watt.
SpaceX plans to begin rolling out the network across the United States in 2027. The buildout is expected to span multiple years, with tens of thousands of sites deployed under the multi-year agreement. The network will be multi-band and will be introduced in phases rather than launched all at once.
Although the partnership is focused on 5G for now, SpaceX and Qualcomm framed it as a step toward a longer-term goal: building what they described as "AI-native 6G infrastructure." That broader vision suggests the companies see this deal as part of a larger evolution in how mobile networks are designed, operated, and scaled.
Michael Nicolls, Starlink's Senior Vice President, said phone calls should not still be dropping whether people are at home or on the move. He described Starlink as working to create "the first fully-integrated nationwide satellite and terrestrial network," adding that the Qualcomm collaboration is expected to help speed up development of SpaceX's end-to-end base station architecture.
The announcement comes as SpaceX intensifies its push to become a full mobile carrier. The company recently bought 800MHz spectrum aimed at improving indoor coverage, while T-Mobile's CEO said SpaceX would not be allowed to operate on T-Mobile's network. Reports have also suggested that SpaceX may be looking to acquire Boost Mobile from EchoStar, which could further accelerate its entry into U.S. wireless service.
