EchoStar and AT&T Defend Spectrum Deal, Elaborate on 600 MHz Plans
Chairman Charlie Ergen and others from EchoStar met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and his aides to emphasize that the company didn’t want to sell its spectrum licenses to AT&T and SpaceX (see 2509090036) but was left with little choice, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday. Meanwhile, EchoStar and AT&T jointly defended the deal in a separate filing posted Thursday in docket 25-303.
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EchoStar decided to sell because of the FCC’s “unequivocal position” that the company's “utilization of its spectrum was not acceptable based on the relatively small number of subscribers using the Boost Mobile … network, and that EchoStar’s continued operations failed to best serve the public interest,” the ex parte filing said.
EchoStar was ready to move forward to launch a facilities-based network, but FCC investigations created “severe uncertainty as to whether EchoStar could recoup its multi-billion-dollar investments following potential Commission investigations and forfeitures,” it said.
AT&T and EchoStar said their deal faces little real opposition and should be approved. T-Mobile and the Rural Wireless Association have raised concerns, as have Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America.
“No party makes a serious argument that the Transaction should be denied,” AT&T and EchoStar said in their latest filing. “Rather, the few commenters’ true aim is to seek regulatory favors, or, in the case of T-Mobile, to do whatever it can to avoid the increased competition that the Transaction creates.”
T-Mobile urged the FCC last month to adopt geographic coverage conditions “to ensure that AT&T deploys the acquired 600 MHz spectrum in rural areas.” AT&T’s coverage should be “verified by a thorough drive test,” similar to conditions imposed as part of the T‑Mobile/Sprint merger, the carrier said. “Given the Commission’s vested interest in seeing this spectrum put to prompt use for the American public, any failure to meet the geographic coverage condition should result in automatic license termination.”
RWA said the FCC should require AT&T to make the 600 MHz spectrum that it’s not using available to smaller carriers. “Rural wireless carriers need access to more spectrum, especially in rural markets where the nationwide wireless carriers have failed to buildout due to low population density and the high cost of deployment.”
AT&T and EchoStar argued that in addition "to the benefits of 3.45 GHz deployment already being realized, AT&T has committed to an aggressive deployment schedule for the 600 MHz spectrum -- a schedule faster than that applied to the winning bidders for this spectrum at auction.” AT&T will use the 600 MHz spectrum “to alleviate congestion, thereby improving in-building service quality and ensuring that AT&T has adequate low-band spectrum to support deployment of 6G while preserving incumbent LTE services that require dedicated channels.”
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation supported AT&T's and SpaceX's purchases of spectrum from EchoStar, saying that such transactions are critical to the advancement of secondary markets. “Because the most productive use is not obvious in advance and changes over time, secondary markets are essential to ensuring spectrum licenses do not get stuck in the hands of those who cannot use them productively,” the group said. The sales are “examples of productivity enhancing market transactions.”