Elon Musk just nuked AT&T

When Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876, the world was still wired to the telegraph. Western Union controlled nearly every mile of telegraph line in America. It was the ultimate monopoly: the “last mile” of communication.

Western Union executives laughed at Bell’s invention. They called the telephone “an electrical toy” that had no chance of replacing their entrenched network. After all, they owned the wires. They owned the poles. They owned the infrastructure.

But they made one fatal mistake: they assumed infrastructure was the moat.

Within a decade, the telephone bypassed the telegraph entirely. Instead of relays and Morse code operators, people spoke directly to one another. Western Union’s vast last-mile network of wires, stations, and clerks was suddenly worthless. Bell’s company went from upstart to empire-builder almost overnight.

That same story just repeated itself.

Last week, SpaceX (private)—through its Starlink division—purchased EchoStar’s wireless spectrum for $17–19 billion. It wasn’t just an acquisition. It was a death blow to today’s telegraph barons: AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and T-Mobile (TMUS).

Starlink’s End Run Around the Tower Monopoly

For decades, wireless carriers have relied on a similar moat to Western Union’s: the last-mile network of towers, backhaul, and spectrum rights. They controlled the pipes. If you wanted mobile coverage, you paid them.

Starlink just erased that advantage.

By acquiring 50 MHz of exclusive S-band spectrum in the U.S. and mobile satellite licenses worldwide, Starlink satellites will soon function as cell towers in space. No new hardware is required. Your existing smartphone will simply ping satellites directly—anywhere on Earth.

The rollout starts with basic texting and emergency signals. But it won’t stop there. Soon, voice calls, video chats, and broadband data will beam down from orbit, indistinguishable from terrestrial LTE and 5G.

Just as Bell’s telephone bypassed the telegraph network, Musk’s satellites will bypass the wireless tower grid. The “last mile” is no longer owned by the incumbents—it belongs to the sky.

The Battlelines: Winners vs. Losers

Make no mistake—this is now an arms race. And only a few players will survive.

Winners: