AT&T, EchoStar Fire Back at Spectrum Deal Opponents

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2025 – T-Mobile is asking the federal regulators only to approve AT&T’s $23 billion spectrum purchase from EchoStar with conditions attached to ensure rural deployment. The companies involved in the deal don’t want that.

“Perhaps the most compelling evidence of the Transaction’s pro-competitive effects is the disingenuous embrace of rural consumers by T-Mobile… to prevent AT&T from acquiring spectrum that would allow AT&T to compete more effectively with T-Mobile nationwide,” AT&T and EchoStar wrote in a Wednesday filing with the Federal Communications Commission.

As part of the deal, AT&T would grab about 30 megahertz of nationwide 3.45 GigaHertz (GHz) spectrum, which it’s already deploying through a lease agreement, and about 20 megahertz of nationwide 600 MHz spectrum. EchoStar would transition to operating its Boost Mobile service largely on AT&T infrastructure while maintaining a separate core.