SpaceX will buy another $2.6 billion worth of radio frequency licenses from EchoStar, expanding on a $17 billion deal announced in September as its satellite internet business, Starlink, continues to win new customers around the world.
The spectrum sale comes just one day after SpaceX announced it had more than 8 million customers worldwide. On Thursday, the company added more commercial contracts to that total. International Airlines Group has announced the rollout of Starlink in-flight internet to more than 500 aircraft across its portfolio, including British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus.
The additional EchoStar spectrum will be used to expand Starlink’s initial “direct to cell” constellation, initially giving T-Mobile customers access to satellite-based 5G internet.
EchoStar began releasing its spectrum licenses earlier this year following pressure from the Federal Communications Commission and the Trump administration. According to Bloomberg, Trump personally told Echostar’s CEO to sell the license.
The sale to SpaceX in September effectively ended EchoStar’s own device-direct satellite constellation plans. However, SpaceX is not the only buyer of EchoStar spectrum. The company sold $23 billion worth of spectrum licenses to AT&T in August.
The deal with International Airlines Group will see Starlink added to the fleet from 2026. According to a press release, the European group plans to make Starlink available on short-haul, long-haul and global routes, essentially all aircraft not scheduled for retirement.
Starlink has been creeping into the airline industry for the past few years. It started with small jets and private planes in 2022, but quickly built up large-scale commercial partnerships, the first of which was Hawaiian Airlines. United Airlines announced a deal to integrate Starlink Internet in late 2024, then accelerated its rollout earlier this year. Qatar Airways has also equipped dozens of its wide-body aircraft with Starlink this year.
All of this has helped SpaceX reach more than 8 million Starlink customers in 150 countries. That’s up from 6 million in June.
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
Source link
