There were some big moves in telecommunications stocks on Friday. On one hand, shares of cell tower owners Crown Castle ( CCI +9.06% ) and American Tower ( AMT +4.08% ) soared, with shares up by about 9% and 4%, respectively, as of midday. On the other hand, the three largest wireless carriers plunged, with Verizon ( VZ -1.20% ) , AT&T ( T -7.96% ) , and T-Mobile ( TMUS -7.71% ) all deep in the red.

Both moves are due to one company, SpaceX ( SPCX +1.89% ) . On Thursday evening, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is in talks to secure at least 80,000 cell sites across the United States as it aims to become the fourth nationwide wireless carrier. For context, 80,000 sites would represent about half of all the purpose-built cell towers in the U.S., so it would be a pretty big move.

Image source: Getty Images.

This is the second time in October that SpaceX has sent shockwaves through the telecom industry. First, on Oct.…