The week ending July 10, 2026 was a reality check for the Starlink trade. After SpaceX’s blockbuster June IPO and its pitch to become a fourth US wireless carrier sent the telecom sector to its worst stretch in years, Wall Street’s skeptics pushed back hard on the capacity math this week, and the carriers bounced: T-Mobile jumped on a BofA upgrade, AT&T recovered off a 52-week low, and SpaceX (SPCX) itself sank to an all-time low the day after joining the Nasdaq-100. Meanwhile, consolidation kept rolling. Dish DBS entered a prepackaged Chapter 11, Iridium closed its Aireon buyout ahead of the Rocket Lab merger, and Amazon Leo crossed roughly 396 satellites in orbit, teeing up a consumer beta this fall.
This Week’s Performance
| Company | Ticker | Latest Price | Weekly Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Carriers | |||
| AT&T | T | $21.13* | +2.7% |
| Verizon | VZ | $42.32* | down 0.6% |
| T-Mobile | TMUS | $185.67* | +4.6% |
| Router & Equipment Makers | |||
| Ericsson (Cradlepoint parent) | ERIC | $11.41* | +5.7% (approx) |
| Semtech (Sierra Wireless parent) | SMTC | $135.30* | roughly flat |
| Digi International | DGII | $67.69 | down 6.2% (approx) |
| Netgear | NTGR | $22.98 | +6.9% |
| Inseego | INSG | $8.76 | down 1.2% |
| Cisco (Meraki) | CSCO | $121.31 | +7.7% |
| Plover Bay (Peplink parent) | 1523.HK | HK$8.07 | +3.1% |
| Satellite & Emerging | |||
| AST SpaceMobile | ASTS | $73.60* | down 13.5% (approx) |
| Iridium | IRDM | $49.46* | down 8.0% (approx) |
| Globalstar | GSAT | $80.04 | down 0.4% |
| EchoStar (now ECHO, formerly SATS) | ECHO | $96.46* | down 5.0% (approx) |
| Viasat | VSAT | $73.56 | down 11.4% |
| SpaceX | SPCX | $145.30 | down 10.3% |
Prices reflect July 10, 2026 closes where available. Entries marked with * are the latest available intraday or delayed quotes as of Friday afternoon. Weekly changes are measured against the July 2 close because US markets were closed Friday, July 3 for the Independence Day holiday; Plover Bay is measured against its July 3 Hong Kong close.
Stories Behind the Moves
US Carriers. The carriers stabilized after their worst week in years, even as Wells Fargo launched coverage of all three explicitly framed around Starlink risk, rating AT&T Underweight with an $18 target while calling it the carrier least likely to strike a Starlink MVNO deal. T-Mobile led the group after BofA upgraded it to Buy, arguing satellite fears are overblown, and the company hired wireless veteran Chris Sambar as Chief Enterprise Officer even as it weathered a brief nationwide outage on July 9. Verizon was named the US connectivity provider for newly manufactured BMW Group vehicles through a KDDI partnership, and AT&T completed North America’s first in-field trial of Ericsson’s Layer 1/Layer 2 Triggered Mobility feature, which cuts data interruption during cell handovers.
Router & Equipment Makers. Cisco was the group’s standout, up 7.7% on continued AI-infrastructure momentum, though network operators face two action items: CISA set an urgent federal deadline to patch an actively exploited Cisco Unified CM flaw, and several popular Meraki access points reach end of support on July 21. Netgear rode its own product cycle higher after unveiling three new Nighthawk Wi-Fi 7 routers. Digi International launched DANI, an AI-driven network operations agent inside Digi Remote Manager, though the stock gave back recent gains. Semtech, parent of Sierra Wireless, set up a new $360M credit facility but dipped on insider-selling headlines. Inseego had a quiet week following its late-June international expansion and MiFi PRO M4 launch on Verizon. Ericsson, Cradlepoint’s parent, reports Q2 results Monday, July 14. Peplink’s listed parent Plover Bay ticked higher in Hong Kong, with the planned Nasdaq spin-off of Peplink Holdings still on track for later this year.
Satellite & Emerging. The satellite group bore the brunt of the SpaceX repricing. SPCX fell about 10% and touched an all-time low of $145.20 on July 8, below its IPO opening price, even as Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with a Street-high $300 target. AST SpaceMobile dropped double digits despite real operational progress: a first-of-its-kind emergency-services direct-to-device trial with Vodafone Ireland, and BlueBird 11 shipping to Cape Canaveral ahead of an August launch. Iridium closed its acquisition of the remaining stake in Aireon and now trades below Rocket Lab’s roughly $54 per share deal price. EchoStar, which changed its ticker from SATS to ECHO on June 24, saw subsidiary Dish DBS work through a prepackaged Chapter 11 while it awaits AT&T’s $20B+ spectrum payment; Dish TV, Sling, Boost, and Hughes continue operating normally. Viasat whipsawed, surging Monday then sliding, despite an Oppenheimer Outperform initiation with a $140 target.
Starlink and Amazon Leo. The analyst counterattack on Starlink Mobile was the story of the week: MoffettNathanson, Morgan Stanley, and New Street all argued that satellite capacity cannot crack dense urban wireless, and one analysis concluded SpaceX’s stated $740B mobile addressable market may be overstated by up to 50x. Amazon Leo, meanwhile, launched 29 satellites on ULA’s final Atlas V rocket, bringing its constellation to roughly 396 satellites, enough, Amazon says, to begin consumer beta service this autumn.
5Gstore Take
For anyone buying connectivity hardware, this week was a useful reminder to separate the stock market from the equipment market. Satellite direct-to-device is real and advancing fast, but even the bulls concede it is years away from replacing terrestrial networks in populated areas. The practical architecture today remains hybrid: a strong cellular router or 5G gateway as primary or failover, with satellite as an additional backup layer where uptime is critical. The July 21 Meraki access point end-of-support date is also a concrete reason to review aging Wi-Fi fleets now rather than after something breaks.
We carry and support the equipment side of nearly every name in this report: Peplink (Plover Bay), Cradlepoint (Ericsson), Sierra Wireless/Semtech, Inseego, and Digi, plus Teltonika and Katalyst. If you are planning a failover strategy, weighing satellite backup, or need to refresh gear ahead of an end-of-support deadline, contact our team and we will help you sort through the options.
FAQ
Why are the weekly changes measured against July 2 instead of last Friday?
US markets were closed Friday, July 3, 2026 in observance of Independence Day, so July 2 was the prior week’s final trading day and serves as the baseline.
Is SpaceX really a publicly traded stock now?
Yes. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX after its June 12, 2026 IPO. Only a small percentage of shares float publicly, which contributes to its outsized volatility.
What happened to the SATS ticker?
EchoStar changed its ticker from SATS to ECHO effective June 24, 2026. Quotes still filed under SATS are frozen at pre-change levels, so make sure any tracking tools point at ECHO.
Does the Starlink news mean I should wait to buy a cellular router?
No. Even the most optimistic satellite timelines leave cellular as the backbone of business connectivity for years. Most reliability-focused deployments are moving toward hybrid setups that combine cellular, wired, and satellite links rather than betting on any single technology.
This post is informational market commentary from 5Gstore and is not investment advice. Stock prices reflect the latest available quotes at the time of writing and several figures are approximate, as noted; always verify current prices with your broker or a financial data provider before making any decisions.
About the Author
Michael Ginsberg is the founder of 5Gstore.com, a trusted source for cellular routers and failover networking solutions since 2005. With a background in software and networking dating back to 1988, he writes about cellular connectivity, IoT infrastructure, network security, and fleet management. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or reach the 5Gstore team through our contact page.
