SpaceX希望获得至少8万个美国基站的使用权，用于其计划中的移动网络。Kelcee Griffis于10月22日为彭博社报道了这一消息。彭博社援引知情人士称，该公司正与至少一家大型铁塔所有商Crown Castle进行洽谈。
SpaceX wants access to at least 80,000 US cell sites for its planned mobile network. Kelcee Griffis reported this for Bloomberg on 22 October. The company is in talks with at least one big tower owner, Crown Castle, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
彭博社称，这些交易将使SpaceX有望成为继AT&T、Verizon和T-Mobile之后的第四家全美运营商。彭博社表示，这些交易价值可能达数十亿美元。TNW未能独立核实该报道。
The deals would put SpaceX on a path to a fourth nationwide US carrier, after AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Bloomberg said the deals could be worth billions of dollars. TNW has not independently verified the report.
Crown Castle的表态 在报道发布前一天，一名分析师在Crown Castle 10月21日的第三季度财报电话会上，询问首席执行官Chris Hillabrant关于与卫星公司签署租约的事宜。SpaceX和亚马逊均被点名提及。
What Crown Castle said A day before the report, an analyst asked Crown Castle chief executive Chris Hillabrant about leases with satellite firms. SpaceX and Amazon were both named.
“我不想透露具体客户细节，但你可以假设我们正在与所有各方交谈。”Crown Castle首席执行官Chris Hillabrant表示。亚马逊已向美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）申请部署自己的直连手机卫星。随后，New Street Research的一名分析师询问SpaceX是否曾接触Crown Castle。Hillabrant重复了同样的说法。
It came on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on 21 October. “I don’t think I want to get into customer-specific detail, but you can assume that we’re talking to all parties.”Chris Hillabrant, Crown Castle Amazon has asked the FCC for its own direct-to-phone satellites. Later, an analyst at New Street Research asked whether SpaceX had approached Crown Castle at all. Hillabrant repeated the same line.
他告诉分析师，SpaceX的计划可在两方面助力Crown Castle。SpaceX可直接租赁铁塔用于其地面网络。其入局也可能推动现有运营商增加自有网络投入。
He told analysts that SpaceX’s plans could help Crown Castle in two ways. SpaceX could lease towers directly for its ground network. Its arrival could also push existing operators to spend more on their own networks.
Hillabrant还表示，Dish已在超过1.2万个Crown Castle站点安装了设备。随后Dish放弃了其网络建设，部分设备仍留在铁塔上。这些站点已完成分区规划和许可审批。他称Dish建设的网络是“新进入者想要快速部署的行业作弊码”。
Hillabrant also said Dish had installed equipment on more than 12,000 Crown Castle sites. Dish then abandoned its network, and some of that kit is still on the towers. Those sites have already been through zoning and permitting. He called the network Dish built “the industry cheat code” for a newcomer that wants to move fast.
马斯克的运营商计划 SpaceX已表示希望直接向美国消费者销售手机服务。本月，该公司同意收购全国性的低频800 MHz频谱。Hillabrant称该收购是“巨大的里程碑”。低频信号能穿透建筑物并覆盖广阔区域。
Musk’s carrier plan SpaceX has said it wants to sell phone service directly to US consumers. This month it agreed to buy nationwide low-band 800 MHz spectrum. Hillabrant called that purchase a “huge milestone”. Low-band signals reach inside buildings and cover wide areas.
据彭博社报道，美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）还批准了SpaceX的1.5万颗卫星，这些卫星旨在直接连接手机。马斯克上周在SpaceX的季度财报电话会上阐述了该计划的地面部分。
The FCC has also approved 15,000 SpaceX satellites designed to connect directly to phones, Bloomberg reported. Musk set out the ground side of the plan on SpaceX’s quarterly earnings call last week.
“我们将建设我们的地面网络，以便在SpaceX和Starlink获准运营的任何地方都能实现广泛的连接。”SpaceX首席执行官埃隆·马斯克表示。
“We will be building out our terrestrial networks so there’s broad-based connectivity anywhere that SpaceX and Starlink are allowed to operate.”
8万个站点的规模有多大 这一目标相当于去年美国使用的15.85万座专用基站塔数量的一半。路透社援引无线基础设施协会的数据报道了这一数字。Crown Castle在美国运营约4万座基站塔，American Tower约4.2万座。私营公司Vertical Bridge拥有约1.8万座。
Elon Musk, SpaceX How big 80,000 sites is The target equals half of the 158,500 purpose-built cell towers in use in the US last year. Reuters reported that figure, citing the Wireless Infrastructure Association. Crown Castle runs about 40,000 US towers and American Tower about 42,000. Privately held Vertical Bridge owns about 18,000.
彭博社的报道提到的是基站站址，而非基站塔，PCMag的Michael Kan指出。这一数字接近三大运营商目前租用的数量。一份3月为该协会准备的报告显示，T-Mobile拥有8.2万座基站塔，AT&T拥有7.5万座，Verizon拥有6.5万座。
Bloomberg’s report refers to cell sites, not towers, Michael Kan noted for PCMag. The figure is close to what the big three already rent. A March report for the association put T-Mobile at 82,000 towers, AT&T at 75,000 and Verizon at 65,000.
据路透社报道，TD Cowen的分析师估计，建设一个全国性的地面网络将耗资超过800亿美元，并需要数年时间。SpaceX还计划利用其客户的家用Starlink设备发射移动信号。研究公司MoffettNathanson指出，这些站址位于用户居住地，并不总是网络需要覆盖的地方。
Analysts at TD Cowen estimated that a nationwide ground network would cost more than $80bn and take many years, Reuters reported. SpaceX also plans to send mobile signals from its customers’ home Starlink equipment. Research firm MoffettNathanson pointed out that those sites sit where subscribers live, not always where a network needs coverage.
股价波动与质疑 彭博社称，受该报道影响，Crown Castle股价在盘后交易中一度上涨多达10%。路透社援引数据称，AT&T、Verizon和T-Mobile的股价在盘后交易中分别下跌了4.2%至5%。
Shares and doubts Crown Castle shares rose as much as 10% in late trading after the report, Bloomberg said. Shares in AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile fell between 4.2% and 5% in extended trading, according to Reuters.
跟踪基站租赁谈判的 Steel In The Air 总裁 Ken Schmidt 对这一数字表示怀疑。在彭博社报道发布前几小时，他与 MoffettNathanson 的 Nick Del Deo 举办了一场关于 Starlink Mobile 的网络研讨会。Schmidt 写道，即使在最乐观的情况下，他们也认为地面网络所需的站点数量会少于每家大型运营商，大约 75,000 个。
Ken Schmidt, president of Steel In The Air, which tracks cell lease negotiations, doubts the number. Hours before Bloomberg’s report, he and Nick Del Deo of MoffettNathanson held a webinar on Starlink Mobile. Even in the most optimistic case, they felt a ground network would need fewer sites than each big carrier, about 75,000, Schmidt wrote on He asked why SpaceX would need 80,000 sites if its direct-to-device satellites give phones what SpaceX calls acceptable service outdoors.
他问道，如果 SpaceX 的直连手机卫星能提供 SpaceX 所谓的“室外可接受服务”，为什么还需要 8 万个站点。他还指出，SpaceX 早先曾指向屋顶微蜂窝，而不是地面网络。
He also noted that SpaceX had earlier pointed to rooftop femtocells instead of a ground network.
“我希望 Starlink 对 8 万个站点是认真的；这对消费者有利，对塔业有利，对运营商不利，对土地主/楼主有利。但这看起来完全像是我想向三大运营商施压、迫使其中一家也签署 MVNO 协议时会做的事。” Ken Schmidt，Steel In The Air MVNO 协议将允许 SpaceX 转售运营商现有网络的接入权。《PCMag》报道称，三大运营商的高管迄今均拒绝了这一想法。T-Mobile 已是 SpaceX 合作伙伴，作为首个 Starlink Mobile 服务在美国的独家提供商。
“I hope Starlink is serious about 80,000 sites; it’s good for consumers, good for the tower industry, bad for the carriers, and good for landowners/building owners. But it seems like exactly what I would do if I wanted to pressure the Big 3 and force one to sign an MVNO deal, too.”Ken Schmidt, Steel In The Air An MVNO deal would let SpaceX resell access to a carrier’s existing network. Executives at all three carriers have so far rejected the idea, PCMag reported. T-Mobile is already a SpaceX partner, as the exclusive US provider of the first Starlink Mobile service.