No, SpaceX won't become the 4th US mobile operator

No, despite multiple breathless posts on LinkedIn, SpaceX won’t become the fourth mobile network operator in the United States, even with its $17 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from EchoStar, according to analysts. After AT&T’s surprise purchase of EchoStar's mid-band 3.45 GHz and low-band 600 MHz spectrum for $23 billion in late August, SpaceX followed that up by scooping up EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum for $17 billion. This has led many commentators to speculate that SpaceX will become the interstellar version of a fourth national mobile network operator for the U.S., now that EchoStar/Dish can no longer fulfill that role. This, however, will not be the case, said Mobile Experts President Joe Madden. “The short answer is no, Starlink won’t be creating a ‘fourth MNO’ from space,” he wrote. “There are multiple issues, including penetration of buildings for indoor services, limited capacity and the high cost of space-based bandwidth.”