AT&T to buy spectrum licenses from EchoStar for $23 billion
Executive Summary:
Embattled EchoStar Corp, parent company of Dish Network [1.], has agreed to sell spectrum licenses to AT&T Inc. for about $23 billion in a deal that will help the company stay out of bankruptcy and fend off regulatory concerns about its airwave use. The sale will expand AT&T’s wireless network and add about 50 MHz of low-band and mid-band spectrum in an all-cash transaction, the Dallas, Texas-based telecommunications company said in a statement on Tuesday. The deal is expected to close by mid-2026, pending regulatory approval.
Note 1. Dish Network is one of only two U.S. wireless telcos that have commercially deployed 5G SA core network on Amazon’s AWS public cloud.. The EchoStar subsidiary has also deployed 5G OpenRAN.
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Key Takeaways:
- $23 billion acquisition will add an average of approximately 50 MHz of low-band and mid-band spectrum to AT&T’s holdings – covering virtually every market across the U.S. and positioning AT&T to maintain long-term leadership in advanced connectivity across 5G and fiber
- Transaction powers improved and capital-efficient long-term growth by accelerating the Company’s ability to add converged subscribers with both 5G wireless and home internet services in more places
- Leading AT&T network will enable continued EchoStar participation in wireless industry through long-term wholesale network services agreement
AT&T said the acquisition of approximately 30 MHz of mid-band spectrum and 20 MHz of low-band spectrum will strengthen the company’s ability to deliver 5G and fiber services across the US. EchoStar will operate in the US market as a hybrid mobile network operator under its Boost brand, the company said in the statement. AT&T will be its primary network partner for wireless service. AT&T has been spending heavily to expand its fiber-optic network across the country and previously said it would use cash savings from Trump’s tax and spending bill to accelerate those plans. In May, it agreed to buy the consumer fiber operations of Lumen Technologies Inc. for $5.75 billion, expanding its fast broadband service in major cities like Denver and Las Vegas. AT&T intends to finance the EchoStar deal with a combination of cash on hand and borrowings. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. advised AT&T on the EchoStar acquisition.
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Backgrounder:
Federal regulators have been pushing EchoStar to sell some of its airwaves after concerns it had failed to put valuable slices of wireless spectrum to use, Bloomberg reported in July. The FCC launched an investigation in May into whether EchoStar was meeting its obligations for its wireless and satellite spectrum rights. The company skipped bond payments and considered filing for bankruptcy, saying the probe had stymied its ability to make decisions about its 5G network. In a June meeting, first reported by Bloomberg, Trump urged EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to cut a deal to resolve the dispute. EchoStar shopped the assets to other would-be buyers, including Elon Musk’s Starlink, Bloomberg earlier reported.
The purchase price is $9 billion more than EchoStar paid for the spectrum and $5 billion more than the appraised value used in securitizing the assets, New Street Research’s Philip Burnett said in a research note Tuesday. While $1.5 billion shy of New Street’s valuation, he said the sale price was “nevertheless a great mark on value.”
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Quotes:
EchoStar CEO Ergen described the sale and related agreement to work with AT&T as “critical steps toward resolving the FCC’s spectrum utilization concerns.”
FCC spokesperson Katie Gorscak said “We appreciate the productive and ongoing discussions with the EchoStar team. The FCC will continue to focus on ensuring the beneficial use of scarce spectrum resources.”
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References:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/t-buy-echostar-spectrum-licenses-160830548.html
https://about.att.com/story/2025/echostar.html
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From Light Reading Aug 27 2025:
EchoStar’s path as the nation’s fourth facilities-based wireless carrier is vanishing after the struggling Colorado-based company agreed to sell a swath of low-band and mid-band spectrum to AT&T for a tidy sum of $23 billion. However, it’s not immediately clear if the agreement will fully satisfy the FCC’s investigation into EchoStar’s federal 5G obligations and spectrum license rights.
Under the agreement, which is expected to close in mid-2026, AT&T and EchoStar also agreed to “enhance” their wholesale network services agreement. That, they said, will enable EchoStar to operate as a “hybrid mobile network operator” providing services under its existing Boost Mobile brand. In turn, AT&T said it will serve as “the primary network services partner to EchoStar as it continues to serve wireless customers.”
EchoStar said Boost Mobile will continue as a wireless competitor under the hybrid MNO model, noting that subs will connect through Boost Mobile’s cloud-native 5G core and AT&T’s cell sites. “Customers will experience no interruptions to service. As a result of this transaction, elements of Boost Mobile’s radio access network (RAN) will be decommissioned over time,” EchoStar said.
Under that scenario, “[t]he likelihood of EchoStar remaining a facilities-based wireless carrier are dwindling,” MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said in a research note (registration required) issued this morning.
Related:When will the EchoStar-FCC stalemate break?
But EchoStar, which has been flirting with bankruptcy in recent months, will get some much-needed cash.
New Street Research analyst Philip Burnett points out in a research note (registration required) that the purchase price is $9 billion more than EchoStar paid for the bands, and $5 billion more than the appraised value used in securitizing the bands. “It is $1.5BN shy of our valuation, but is nevertheless a great mark on value,” Burnett wrote.
The price EchoStar is getting from AT&T is “reason enough for celebration for EchoStar,” Moffett explained. “[I]t also bodes well for the thesis that EchoStar is now in full liquidation mode, and that’s also a welcome development,” Moffett added. “More spectrum sales will surely follow, and if today’s transaction is any indication, those, too, could fetch more than we had imagined.”
With EchoStar transitioning to a hybrid MNO, “we suspect all of its terrestrial spectrum assets will now be sold,” Burnett said. EchoStar “easily” has $30 billion of additional wireless spectrum to monetize, he added.
“We continue to evaluate strategic opportunities for our remaining spectrum portfolio in partnership with the US government and wireless industry participants,” EchoStar President and CEO Hamid Akhavan said in a statement.
Related:EchoStar’s ‘going concerns’ warning returns as it sparks $5B direct-to-device LEO project
Moffett said the “negative” here is EchoStar’s $15 billion of tower lease agreements that “act as an additional layer of debt” that will need to be resolved.
Some of the proceeds from the AT&T transaction presumably will help to fund EchoStar’s new $5 billion direct-to-device (D2D) low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite project. The initial plans call for a LEO constellation of about 200 satellites, with the potential to expand it to “thousands, as demand requires,” according to EchoStar.
EchoStar investors cheered the deal. EchoStar shares rocketed $23.13 (77.41%) to $53.01 in Tuesday morning trading. AT&T shares were down 1.43%.
FCC cloud hovering over EchoStar may lift
EchoStar noted that the transaction is part of its ongoing efforts to resolve the FCC’s inquiries into the company’s 5G buildout and spectrum licenses.
“EchoStar and Boost Mobile have met all of the FCC’s network buildout milestones. However, this spectrum sale to AT&T and hybrid MNO agreement are critical steps toward resolving the FCC’s spectrum utilization concerns,” EchoStar Co-founder and Chairman Charlie Ergen said in a statement.
Related:FCC Chair urges EchoStar to sell spectrum in ‘best and final offer’ – report
However, EchoStar is not yet out of the woods, according to New Street Research policy analyst and former FCC official Blair Levin.
“The FCC cloud has not disappeared, but it is likely to fade away,” Levin explained in a research note (registration required). “The transaction does not directly relate to either of the two proceedings. That is, the transaction does not address whether [EchoStar] complied with its build-out requirements, nor does it address the technological feasibility of sharing the 2GHz spectrum.”
But he does believe the proposed agreement will be viewed favorably by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, as it means EchoStar’s spectrum will certainly be put to more use and enable EchoStar to sidestep bankruptcy – a scenario favored by President Donald Trump.
“[W]e see the light at the end of the tunnel, with the transaction providing [Carr] a victory and enabling [EchoStar] to live and fight another day,” Levin added.
Meanwhile, Moffett believes the FCC will approve the transaction. Carr “has already made clear that this is the outcome he wants, so we can’t imagine that the Commission would withhold approval,” he wrote.
But he notes that the FCC likely will petition the US Department of Justice to waive a prohibition tied to the Sprint/T-Mobile deal that certain spectrum was barred from sale to other MNOs, such as Verizon and AT&T, prior to the end of 2026.
“Again, it’s hard to imagine that won’t happen,” Moffett said of an anticipated waiver. “The original premise of the consent decree [from the T-Mobile/Sprint deal] was that Dish Network was a necessary fourth facilities-based competitor for the US wireless market. That wasn’t a realistic expectation then and it’s even less realistic now.”
As of this writing, the FCC has not commented on today’s announcement.
AT&T’s plan to ‘accelerate and expand’ FWA a negative for cable
Under the deal, AT&T is set to acquire about 30MHz of nationwide 3.45GHz mid-band spectrum and roughly 20MHz of nationwide 600MHz low-band spectrum that cover more than 400 markets in all. Noting that the spectrum is compatible with its 5G network, AT&T intends to deploy the mid-band spectrum licenses “as soon as possible,” and eventually deploy the low-band spectrum licenses within its current multi-year capital guidance.
Moffett isn’t surprised that AT&T stepped up to acquire a swatch of EchoStar’s spectrum, noting that Verizon has already bet big on the C-Band and T-Mobile determined that spectrum in the 3.45MHz band (via US Cellular) did not suit its 5G network.
AT&T believes the newly acquired spectrum will enable it to enhance its 5G coverage and deliver faster and more reliable speeds, and support emerging AI and IoT use cases.
AT&T will also use the spectrum to accelerate and expand the availability of AT&T Internet Air, a fixed wireless access (FWA) product that the company is using to “catch” DSL customers, to support areas prior to future fiber upgrades and to service rural areas that might not get fiber for the foreseeable future.
Moffett said AT&T’s revised FWA plans represent a “negative” for the US cable industry. “Until now, AT&T has been much more cautious about FWA than either Verizon or T-Mobile. One can assume that their new stance will be much closer to that of their peers.”
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/echostar-s-future-as-a-facilities-based-wireless-carrier-is-toast-amid-spectrum-sale-to-at-t
AT&T’s deployment of EchoStar’s lowband spectrum could take years AT&T CEO John Stankey is confident the company can deploy EchoStar’s midband spectrum ‘quickly,’ but he stressed that it could take years to deploy EchoStar’s lowband spectrum.
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/at-t-s-deployment-of-echostar-s-low-band-spectrum-could-take-years