SpaceX and AST Spacemobile Inc. are among the companies preparing to bid on spectrum licenses valued at $6 billion held by Grain Management LLC, according to a Bloomberg report published Thursday.
The 800 MHz-band spectrum licenses, described by the Federal Communications Commission as underutilized, are slated for an FCC auction with a deadline set for November 5. The licenses became available after Grain Management completed a spectrum swap with T-Mobile US Inc. earlier this month, an arrangement approved by the FCC under terms requiring the licenses to be put up for competitive bidding.
The spectrum is considered strategically valuable for companies aiming to deliver wireless phone services directly from space. SpaceX's satellite communications division, Starlink, is noted as the company's sole profitable unit and a major revenue contributor.
Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, responded to the Bloomberg report in a social media post, stating that the claim was "not true."
