SpaceX agrees to buy Grain's nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio

SpaceX has agreed to acquire 100% of Grain Management’s nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio. If regulators approve the transfer, SpaceX says the deal would add a low-band terrestrial layer to its planned Starlink Mobile network.

Grain announced the agreement, which remains subject to Federal Communications Commission approval and other customary closing conditions. The companies did not disclose a purchase price or expected closing date.

The portfolio includes up to 14 megahertz of paired low-band spectrum, according to SpaceX’s description of the transaction. SpaceX says it plans to combine direct-to-device satellite coverage with terrestrial deployment after final FCC approval.

SpaceX expects the 800 MHz layer to help signals pass through obstacles such as walls and reach devices inside buildings. The company also says the licenses address a technical gap in its ambition to make Starlink Mobile a major U.S. mobile carrier. Both are company projections: the indoor performance has not been demonstrated in an operating network. The spectrum purchase is separate from SpaceX’s reported financing talks for Nvidia chips, which concern computing capacity rather than wireless licenses.

The portfolio moved to Grain in August. T-Mobile completed the transfer on Aug. 11 after the FCC approved it on July 1, exchanging the licenses for $2.9 billion in cash and all of Grain’s 600 MHz licenses.

The Grain agreement is also distinct from SpaceX’s earlier spectrum transactions with EchoStar. An EchoStar regulatory filing describes a September 2025 agreement covering 50 MHz of AWS-4 and H-Block spectrum and a November 2025 amendment that added up to 15 MHz of AWS-3 spectrum for additional consideration. EchoStar said the FCC approved those transactions in May 2026, while their final closing remained targeted for Nov. 30, 2027, subject to applicable conditions.