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  "description": "Move follows SpaceX's push to open the band to new satellite entrants.",
  "path": "/fcc-reviews-echostars-2-ghz-spectrum-rights/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-05-13T19:24:26.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_opened a new docket_",
    "_filed a letter_",
    "_a second filing_",
    "_an April 15 response_",
    "_on April 23_",
    "_a third letter_",
    "_September 2024 decision_",
    "_at the time_",
    "_on Monday_",
    "_a long-standing petition_"
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, May 13, 2025 – Following a series of petitions from SpaceX, Federal Communications Commission Chairman**Brendan Carr** has ordered a review of a 2024 agency decision that gave EchoStar three more years to deploy its 5G network – potentially putting the company’s hold on 40 megahertz of mid-band spectrum in the 2 GigaHertz (GHz) band in jeopardy.\n\nIn a letter sent to EchoStar Chairman **Charlie Ergen** on Friday, May 9, Carr accused the company of “negotiating behind closed doors during the previous Administration” to delay buildout deadlines originally set for mid-2025.\n\nThat extension, approved at the bureau level, pushed deployment milestones to June 14, 2028 in exchange for a series of public interest commitments.\n\nOne business day later, on Monday, the FCC Space Bureau _opened a new docket_ to formally assess EchoStar’s use of the 2 GHz band. The public notice specifically seeks comment on whether EchoStar was meeting its mobile-satellite service (MSS) obligations and whether the FCC should consider allowing new MSS entrants into the band.\n\n### _Escalating tensions between EchoStar and SpaceX_\n\nThe FCC’s action follows months of escalating tensions between EchoStar and SpaceX.\n\nOn March 20, SpaceX _filed a letter_ urging the FCC to find that EchoStar’s market access rights in the band have expired. On April 14, it followed with _a second filing_ asserting that EchoStar “has left this valuable mid-band spectrum chronically underused,” and that the FCC should establish a sharing framework to open the band to “new satellite entrants.”\n\nEchoStar, in _an April 15 response_, argued that its 2 GHz licenses are valid, that it is meeting its buildout obligations, and that SpaceX misinterprets the FCC’s AWS-4 order.\n\nIn a follow-up filing _on April 23_, the company said it is developing a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, Lyra, to operate in the AWS-4 band, and accused SpaceX of a “bad faith” attempt to “usurp the spectrum rights of a competitor.”\n\nOn May 6, SpaceX submitted _a third letter_, claiming EchoStar has left up to 99% of its AWS-4 spectrum idle and urging “even if the FCC finds that EchoStar has met its obligations, the underutilization of the spectrum should warrant reconsideration of the current framework.”\n\n###  _'Met or exceeded all of the commitments', Ergen said_\n\nIn a statement to _Broadband Breakfast_ provided by the company and attributed to Ergen, EchoStar defended its record, saying it has “met or exceeded all of the commitments it has entered into with the FCC to date,” and emphasized that its new deadlines were granted “consistent with FCC practice under the past two Administrations.”\n\nThe original _September 2024 decision_ to extend EchoStar’s 5G buildout deadlines drew criticism, including from Carr, for being rushed. The FCC’s Wireless Bureau approved the request just three days after it was filed, without seeking public comment, causing analysts to believe the deal was predetermined. Carr _at the time_ called it “the worst abuse of agency process he has seen in twelve years of working at the FCC.”\n\nThe FCC’s review of EchoStar’s spectrum holdings isn't limited to the 2 GHz band. Also _on Monday_, the FCC’s Wireless Bureau released a separate public notice seeking comment on _a long-standing petition_ from VTel Wireless, a Vermont-based carrier that is challenging the same 2024 extension Carr is now targeting. VTel has asked the FCC to reconsider its decision to grant EchoStar more time to build out licenses across multiple bands, including AWS-4, 700 MHz, 600 MHz, and PCS H spectrum.\n\nEchoStar’s operations span Boost Mobile, DISH Network’s 5G wireless operations, and Hughes Network Systems, a terrestrial satellite broadband provider.\n\nIn a policy note published Tuesday, **Blair Levin** of New Street Research wrote that Carr’s actions may reflect an effort to pressure EchoStar into a spectrum-sharing agreement or even a partial sale.\n\nWhile Levin acknowledged that SpaceX has made similar arguments before, and has largely failed to convince the FCC, he warned that Carr’s framing, which portrays EchoStar as a bad-faith actor cutting “backroom deals,” poses a real threat to the company’s license stability and spectrum valuation.\n\n“There is a significant risk to DISH that the FCC will make findings that, if upheld by a court, would reduce the value of DISH’s spectrum holdings,” Levin wrote.\n\nPublic comments on both of the FCC’s May 12 notices are due May 27, with replies due June 6.",
  "title": "FCC Reviews EchoStar’s 2 GHz Spectrum Rights",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T03:29:36.227Z"
}