The more I read, it seems that this is going to happen soon and might even be better than anyone else in the end. The last paragraph says a lot about whether Dan needs to worry more than he is. I think he has been laying the groundwork, no pun intended, way before he ever mentioned it.
https://www.phonearena.com/news/spacex-starlink-mobile-5g-qualcomm_id184562
SpaceX will deploy Qualcomm's QRU100 and QDU100 hardware solutions along with its Layer 1 (the lowest physical layer of the Radio Access Network) software.
The network will leverage Massive MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) — which uses multi-antenna tech to improve coverage and capacity — and energy-efficient baseband technology to enable a cost-effective nationwide rollout. The partnership will extend into the 6G era.
SpaceX aims to begin deploying its 5G network next year, rolling out tens of thousands of sites over several years.
Technical details reveal that Starlink Mobile will use Massive MIMO radio units with 64 transmit and 64 receive paths for advanced antenna capabilities.
Qualcomm's Dragonwing solutions will provide processing for Massive MIMO radio units and Layer 1 to achieve efficiency. Qualcomm's radio unit and distributed unit technologies will allow SpaceX to use multiple frequency bands, enabling a phased rollout.
SpaceX initially painted the picture of a network that would rely heavily on satellites, but the company is now building out standard terrestrial infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission is trying to unlock more spectrum for SpaceX, which currently holds under 89 MHz of spectrum compared to the roughly 300 MHz held by each of the Big Three.
Spectrum is the fundamental building block of any wireless network. SpaceX's pace suggests it might bid aggressively in upcoming auctions to close the gap as much as possible, with satellites filling any remaining coverage shortfalls.
The real story isn't just that SpaceX is using a vendor that has also worked with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. It's that SpaceX is making tangible moves toward constructing a mobile network, which will function much like legacy networks, except there likely won't be any blackouts thanks to the satellite fallback layer.