- The SpaceX IPO could be the largest IPO Wall Street has ever seen
- And SpaceX could be the world's first global mobile operator, Skylo Technologies co-founder Tarun Gupta said.
- SpaceX has become a major player in the telecom ecosystem both for broadband and wireless
SpaceX has filed confidential paperwork today for its initial public offering (IPO), according to Bloomberg and the New York Times.
The company plans its IPO for June and founder Elon Musk aims to raise $50 billion to $75 billion, which would make it the largest IPO Wall Street has ever seen. SpaceX currently values itself at more than $1 trillion, according to the NTimes. The company is an umbrella that includes not only the SpaceX rocket company but also xAI, Starlink, Grok and X (formerly known as Twitter).
A confidential filing means that the financials of the company are not disclosed until later.
Of course, SpaceX has become a major factor in the telecom ecosystem in recent years.
Its Starlink broadband service is in direct competition with cable, fixed wireless and fiber providers, especially in rural areas where people have been left on the other side of the digital divide.
Starlink was the top recipient of eligible locations in the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) program, nabbing about 476,000 locations. And it’s done things like give away free equipment to gain market share.
And SpaceX is also causing jitters on the wireless side of telecom with its Starlink Mobile initiative.
Initially, SpaceX worked with T-Mobile to provide complementary emergency texting for T-Mobile’s wireless customers when they were in remote areas out of cellular reach. But recently, SpaceX has been making moves for Starlink Mobile to become a direct-to-device (D2D) operator in its own right.
Adding more fuel to the speculation that SpaceX plans to become a standalone mobile operator, the company has purchased spectrum from EchoStar that can be used for D2D, and it’s now also rumored to be purchasing GlobalStar’s assets, including its spectrum.
Finally, SpaceX got an ITU mobile network identifier: a mobile country code and mobile network code (MCC/MNC) of 901-08. And even though Starlink Mobile often says that it plans to provide a satellite service “complementary” to terrestrial wireless providers, the MCC/MNC is a step toward operating as a D2D provider on its own.
Elad Baram, Ceva’s director of Mobile Business, told Fierce, “As SATCOM operators move into direct-to-cell, owning an MCC-MNC becomes strategically important. It allows them to operate as a native network or support roaming, while maintaining control over subscriber management, service delivery and billing.”
And on a Fierce Network panel yesterday about satellite, Tarun Gupta, co-founder of Skylo Technologies, said of the MCC/MNC identifier, “It's pretty significant. They went in for a global phone number, basically. So, the first step you need to do to have a consumer presence is to have a phone number. That's how you're identified, and so they've gotten that. So that's why I believe they'll be the world's first global mobile operator.”