SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy v3 booster lifted off from the Starbase launch site in Texas.

Good morning. We are living through one of the most intense bursts of technological innovation in a generation's memory, yet one sector has remained relatively calm.

The phone itself, at least for now, remains an indispensable device; but the communications networks that connect phones have followed a fairly predictable trajectory.

A few years ago, people expected 5G mobile communications to bring disruptive change. Admittedly, it did improve on previous generations of communications technology, but that was about it.

Now the outside world is once again discussing the prospects for 6G, though it is still several years away from becoming a reality.

In this transitional phase, perhaps SpaceX will shake up the entire industry landscape. The company has reached an agreement to acquire cellular spectrum licenses from investment firm Grain Management.

This is the biggest step SpaceX has taken so far into the wireless communications market, which is dominated by traditional telecom giants. According to people familiar with the matter, the aerospace company led by Elon Musk will pay about US$8 billion in cash for these assets.

More key points from the report

This batch of spectrum resources will help SpaceX advance its Starlink business strategy: no longer limited to broadband internet, but further moving into the mobile communications market to compete with carriers such as AT&T and Verizon.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this week approved SpaceX's application to launch up to 15,000 satellites dedicated to mobile communications services.

The mobile communications industry is highly capital-intensive. It requires enormous infrastructure investment, as well as a large workforce responsible for the construction, maintenance, and emergency repair of physical network facilities.

This also explains why the market has ultimately concentrated into the hands of a few carriers — a massive user base is necessary to spread out the huge costs.

This raises a question: why would a company want to enter this market?

SpaceX (SPCX) says it can break the existing industry structure and achieve the integration of terrestrial and satellite communications.

When SpaceX released its first quarterly earnings report in August, company president Gwynne Shotwell elaborated on the plan to transform into a mobile communications operator.

She said: "I expect we can win quite a lot of users, because I believe our service experience will be better."

Competition in the telecom industry often revolves around the familiar dimensions of marketing, pricing, and network quality. This industry has long deserved a higher level of technological innovation.