Elon Musk’s SpaceX said it acquired low-band spectrum that will enable it to use its Starlink satellites to become a “major mobile carrier” in the US, sending shares in incumbent cell providers falling as much as 8%.

In a post on X on Thursday, Musk said that the low-band spectrum is “the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”

Shares of major mobile phone service providers dropped in postmarket trading. AT&T Inc. fell 7.3% and T-Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. sank 6.6% as of 5 p.m. in New York. SpaceX rose 1.5% in postmarket trading.

Bloomberg News reported in August that SpaceX was among the companies interested in the spectrum. Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive officer, appeared to reject the idea, responding “not true” on his X social media platform to a user’s post referencing the report.

SpaceX said that once it receives approval from the Federal Communications Commission, it will combine its satellite-to-cell services with a terrestrial network that can connect devices everywhere.

The new spectrum, which SpaceX acquired from investment firm Grain Management LLC, allows the company to provide cell service that can penetrate walls and provide service to devices indoors. It is supported by most mobile devices today, SpaceX said in a post on its website.

The price of the agreement was not publicly disclosed by SpaceX or Grain Management.

The 800 MHz-band licenses became available after Grain completed a spectrum swap in August with T-Mobile.

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