- As EchoStar moves to sell spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX, infrastructure vendors say the company is using a “force majeure” excuse to avoid paying its bills
- Industry groups are urging the FCC to attach conditions to the spectrum transfer to ensure EchoStar does right by its vendors
- Two lawmakers also weighed in, raising concerns about favoritism given Elon Musk’s close ties to the Trump administration
EchoStar provided a lot of drama in 2025, and it looks to be on a similar course as we kick off 2026.
On one side are billionaires Elon Musk (still the world’s richest man) and Charlie Ergen (founder and now president and CEO of EchoStar) who want the government to approve the sale of EchoStar’s spectrum licenses to SpaceX. On the other side are wireless industry vendors of all shapes and sizes that want EchoStar and its subsidiary Dish Wireless to pay their bills, i.e., what they owe to these vendors for helping build a 5G wireless network that appears destined for decommissioning. In between are all kinds of stakeholders with skin in the game to some extent or another.
Here's a quick refresher for those of us still dusting away the cobwebs after a long holiday break.
Last May, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr wrote a letter to Ergen questioning whether EchoStar was fully meeting its spectrum usage obligations and 5G network buildout requirements. The FCC launched investigations that concluded only after EchoStar agreed to sell 600 MHz and 3.45 GHz spectrum licenses to AT&T and several chunks of spectrum to SpaceX. Combined, these transactions will amount to about $40 billion in EchoStar’s coffers.
However, because the FCC’s investigations sparked what Ergen now calls a “force majeure” event, EchoStar says Dish Wireless – which purportedly is not a party to the AT&T and SpaceX agreements – isn’t required to live up to its obligations with its network infrastructure vendors.
As one might expect, this isn’t sitting well with the vendor community.
WIA: Don’t let EchoStar stiff vendors
In mid-December, the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) sent a letter to the FCC saying that while it’s not opposed to the sale of EchoStar spectrum licenses to AT&T and SpaceX, EchoStar shouldn’t be allowed to “unjustly enrich itself” at the expense of the numerous infrastructure companies, fiber backhaul providers and construction firms that built its network.
“Through its written communications to numerous WIA members from its wholly-owned subsidiary, Dish Wireless, EchoStar has made clear that it has no intention of using any portion of its significant spectrum sale profits to fulfill its contractual obligations,” WIA told the FCC. “The commission should clarify that it gave no such performance excuse to EchoStar.”
Shortly after filing applications for its spectrum license transfers, EchoStar started notifying WIA vendors that it did not intend to fulfill its contractual commitments.
According to WIA, EchoStar sent letters to numerous WIA members unequivocally stating that its obligations are “excused” under its contracts due to “the actions by the FCC.”
In communications to WIA members, EchoStar suggested that, as a result of a previous strategic internal corporate restructuring, the spectrum sales contemplated by the applications will leave the subsidiary with which WIA members have contracted, Dish Wireless, “not entitled to receive any of the spectrum sale proceeds at closing.”
So while EchoStar will receive billions of dollars “on the backs of the companies that built out its networks and allowed it to maintain its spectrum,” these vendors are getting stiffed. One of the bigger vendors, American Tower, filed suit to force Dish to live up to its contractual obligations.
Separately, a group of 25 smaller and mid-sized infrastructure providers told the FCC that EchoStar has already delayed payments and in some cases, defaulted, on its obligations to many of them. They’re also urging the commission to attach conditions to spectrum transfer approvals so that EchoStar will honor its outstanding obligations.
“If the commission allows EchoStar to profit while its infrastructure partners are left holding the bag, it will send a chilling message to every infrastructure provider considering future investment in wireless infrastructure,” they told the agency.
EchoStar: These are private deals
Of course, EchoStar and SpaceX – who were bitter foes in several FCC proceedings until they reached these spectrum deals in 2025 – are on the same page in terms of the benefits their transactions will bring for consumers. With access to EchoStar’s AWS-3, AWS-4 and AWS-H block spectrum, SpaceX will gain the ability to provide mobile connectivity from space and eliminate mobile dead zones, EchoStar told the commission in a December 29 filing.
EchoStar’s Boost Mobile business, which continues to serve customers through its own cloud-native hybrid mobile network infrastructure and AT&T’s RAN, will get the chance to offer new direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities enabled by the transaction.
As for the infrastructure companies’ requests for conditional approval, EchoStar said those asserting contractual claims against EchoStar are “entirely unrelated” to the commission’s evaluation of the spectrum transfer transactions and the FCC has no business getting involved in these private contractual disputes.
“This is how it should be: private negotiation and courts are the proper venue for the myriad contracts at issue, each with unique provisions and different parties,” EchoStar told the agency.
Plus, according to EchoStar, it would be weird for the FCC to impose conditions on EchoStar because it will no longer be the one that holds the licenses.
SpaceX responds
In its December 29 filing, SpaceX briefly addressed the concerns raised by the infrastructure vendors and dismissed them, saying commission precedent clearly establishes that it’s not the proper forum for resolving private contract disputes.
More broadly, SpaceX said the acquisition of EchoStar’s spectrum will enable it to provide a mobile satellite service (MSS) that delivers true mobile broadband to ordinary consumer devices.
SpaceX already provides mobile service to consumers using PCS G-block spectrum leased from T-Mobile and SpaceX’s proposed new system will offer “true broadband speeds” thanks to the increased bandwidth that EchoStar’s spectrum licenses will provide. Acquisition of the EchoStar spectrum will also allow SpaceX to offer service through other carriers.
Once approved, SpaceX intends to provide nationwide and global MSS services using the spectrum by the end of 2027.
One more thing
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) sent a letter to FCC Chairman Carr and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater expressing their concerns about AT&T’s and SpaceX’s plans to acquire EchoStar’s spectrum.
They say AT&T’s acquisition of EchoStar’s spectrum will officially mark the end of EchoStar’s attempt to serve as a fourth facilities-based carrier and further erode competition. For SpaceX, the acquisition of spectrum raises competition concerns in the satellite industry as it could mean SpaceX will embed itself in the mobile carrier market while not directly challenging the dominant mobile carriers.
But there’s another wrinkle to the whole thing: Musk’s ties to the Trump Administration. Even though they had a fallout last year, Musk and Trump appear to be on better terms as the new year kicks off.
The lawmakers noted Musk’s massive contributions to Trump’s presidential campaign and role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as well as Musk’s relationship with Carr.
“The circumstances around the FCC investigation of EchoStar and the close relationship of Mr. Musk to the Trump Administration and to key Trump Administration officials make it particularly important that the FCC and DOJ engage in a robust, independent, and impartial review prior to approving any sale of EchoStar spectrum to SpaceX in order to avoid the appearance of favoritism or impropriety,” the lawmakers wrote.