糖心视频

FCC letter to SATS: Carpet Burn or Rug Pull?聽After EchoStar just reported 1Q25 earnings and issued another $150 million of spectrum-backed debt (fulfilling a prior obligation), FCC chairman Brendan Carr has fired a shot across the bow at DISH, stopping short of calling the company a 鈥渟pectrum warehouser鈥� but clearly calling into question whether the company has been effective at building out a 5G network. The letter identified three actions: 1) review whether DISH has met buildout requirements, 2) consider nullifying the recent extension provided by the Biden FCC and 3) weigh whether there is a better use case for DISH鈥檚 MSS spectrum.

We don鈥檛 know the answer but neither feels good.聽It is difficult to know the FCC鈥檚 end game but our concern is more around the FCC鈥檚 now unpredictable approach to dealing with EchoStar鈥檚 position. This wouldn鈥檛 be the first time someone has called out Ergen for 鈥渉oarding鈥� spectrum but would be the first time that the FCC seems to be directly challenging him. We note that any sale or lease of the spectrum would require said FCC approval, introducing some uncertainty on that front.