Sometime in 2026, Elon Musk will hold an initial public offering (IPO) for SpaceX.
We don’t know when the IPO will happen. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that when SpaceX IPOs, it’s going to be basically bad news for everyone competing against SpaceX.
Will artificial intelligence create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on a little-known company that has been described as an “essential monopoly” that provides critical technology that both Nvidia and Intel need. continue”
Who will be Elon Musk’s next victim? Rival rocket companies United Launch Alliance (ULA) and rocket lab U.S. aerospace companies and Europe’s Arianespace are obvious targets. SpaceX is already the most well-known company in space launch, and it will become even more powerful once its IPO valuation reaches $1.5 trillion. The $50 billion in new cash SpaceX is rumored to raise would be 30% more than Rocket Lab’s entire market capitalization and four times the combined earnings of ULA’s co-owners Lockheed Martin Revenue generated by its space business in a year.
So you can understand why other space companies might be a little nervous.
Less obvious, though, is the threat Musk poses to upstarts in the telecom industry AST space movement(NASDAQ:ASTS)and AST’s two largest business partners, AT&T(NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications(NYSE: VZ).
Image source: Getty Images.
Last month, SpaceX released its latest Starlink progress report, detailing the growing scale and influence of its satellite internet business, Starlink.
Other disclosures in the report include the fact that SpaceX currently has more than 9,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, 9.2 million paying customers on Earth, and the fact that Starlink alone generates more than $10 billion in annual revenue. SpaceX also provides important insights into Starlink’s newest business: direct-to-cell (DTC) calls.
After only two years of DTC business, SpaceX has currently put 650 Starlink DTC satellites into orbit, accounting for about 7% of the total. Starlink DTC already covers 22 countries on six continents, making Starlink “the largest 4G coverage provider on the planet, connecting more than 12 million users and counting.”
By the way, the number of Starlink DTC satellites will almost double by 2025, so it is growing rapidly – not only in terms of users, but also in terms of capabilities. Initially suitable only for sending wireless emergency alerts and short texts, Starlink DTC can now support email and even video calls.
Ultimately, SpaceX believes that the total potential market for Starlink DTC is 400 million users, and there is at least 33 times room for growth compared to the current Starlink DTC.
By comparison, AST SpaceMobile has only six BlueBird DTC satellites in orbit. It hasn’t started testing the service yet – which, as you can imagine, is frustrating for its two biggest US partners, telecoms companies AT&T and Verizon.
Starlink DTC isn’t the only thing AST, AT&T and Verizon have to worry about. After reading through the Starlink Progress Report last month, space analysts at Quilty Space discovered a second noteworthy fact.
Starlink has “activated” a total of 20 “community gateways”, 13 of which will come online in 2025 alone (so more Over 100% growth (this part of Starlink’s business is growing even faster than DTC). As Quilty observes, establishing gateways on the ground to distribute satellite internet means Starlink “is no longer just a last-mile ISP in some areas, but the backhaul itself, a shift that drives a shift toward infrastructure-style regulation of the system that SpaceX seems intent on standardizing before it becomes controversial.”
(To help understand this, the “last mile” of the Internet refers to how you connect to your Internet service provider via fiber optics, cell towers, or satellite. “Backhaul” further connects your ISP to central data centers and major Internet hubs, and from there to multinational and international Internet backbones. Backhaul also happens to be an important part of AT&T and Verizon’s business.)
Starlink DTC already allows SpaceX to compete with AT&T and Verizon in wireless — initially in areas with limited cell phone coverage, but increasingly in everywhere. If Starlink also starts an infrastructure-type Internet backhaul business, then this is the second area of ​​the telecom business where the two companies will compete. Again, Starlink is currently growing this Parts of its business are growing even faster than its satellite fleet, and even faster than the number of its Starlink DTC satellites.
Until we see the company’s IPO prospectus, it’ll be difficult to quantify the size of the business or the potential profits SpaceX could make from it. Still, be sure to keep an eye on this emerging backhaul business when the prospectus is released.
Because SpaceX already is.
Before buying AST SpaceMobile stock, consider the following factors:
this Motley Fool Stock Advisor The analytics team has just identified what they believe is 10 Best Stocks Investors can buy now… and AST SpaceMobile isn’t one of them. The 10 stocks selected could generate huge returns in the coming years.
consider when Netflix This list was created on December 17, 2004… If you invested $1,000 when we recommended, You will have $409,108!* or when NVIDIA This list was created on April 15, 2005… If you invested $1,000 when we recommended, You will have $1,145,980!*
Now, it’s worth noting stock advisor The total average return is 886% — outperformed the market compared to the S&P 500’s 193%. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available via stock advisorand join an investment community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returned on February 14, 2026.
Rich Smith works at Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has jobs and recommendations in Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool recommends AST SpaceMobile, Lockheed Martin and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
SpaceX IPO poses existential threat to AST SpaceMobile, Verizon and AT&T
