SpaceX Cell Site Talks Lift Crown Castle, American Tower; Wireless Carriers Fall

Shares of cell tower providers surged Friday after Bloomberg reported SpaceX is negotiating leases with Crown Castle (CCI) and other providers to secure thousands of U.S. cell sites for its Starlink Mobile carrier push. Crown Castle rose more than 13% in early trading, while American Tower (AMT) also climbed. SpaceX is seeking at least 80,000 cell sites nationwide, according to the report. Neither SpaceX nor Crown Castle responded to Investopedia's requests for comment. Wireless carriers fell on competition concerns: AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and T-Mobile (TMUS) were each down between 3% and 5%. SpaceX shares rose less than 1% after plunging 9% in the prior day's tech sell-off.