Elon Musk Bets $17 Billion on Plan to Serve Mobile Phone Deserts

Anyone who’s driven into the mountains or gone camping knows what it’s like to be without mobile phone service. Elon Musk wants to solve that, and he just put $17 billion toward the problem.

The SpaceX chief executive officer recently agreed to buy a valuable cache of airwave licenses that will help him create a seamless mobile satellite communication network — no antenna or clunky hardware needed. With a new infusion of spectrum, his Starlink satellite network will eventually be able to provide all the features of cell phone service — from voice calling to high-quality video streams.

Following the ...