Consumer Groups Support EchoStar’s 5G Construction Extension

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2024 – The Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge are supporting EchoStar’s extended deadline for rolling out a new 5G wireless network.

OTI and Public Knowledge conveyed their support for EchoStar’s 5G mobile infrastructure buildout extension in a joint letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission Thursday.

“The public interest conditions attached to the extension are both positive and unprecedented,” OTI’s Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese said. “The FCC negotiated a win-win agreement, since the extension now requires [Echostar subsidiary] DISH to cover 80 percent of the U.S. population and to offer a low-cost 5G plan and device to consumers nationwide during the extension period.”

The joint letter by OTI and Public Knowledge was prompted by an Oct. 21 challenge to the extension brought to the FCC by VTEL Wireless.

VTel, based in Springfield, Vt., is a small, family-owned telecommunications company that provide residential, small business and enterprise consumers with fiber-optic Internet, telephone and television services across 14 rural Vermont villages.

The company challenged EchoStar’s extension, arguing that the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau did not have the authority to grant such an extension without notifying the public.

EchoStar was originally given until mid-2025 to complete its rollout. The company was granted a three-year extension by the WTB in September, putting the new deadline at June 14, 2028.

“We believe EchoStar made a compelling case for its extension request and the Bureau had ample authority to grant it based on its extensive and detailed filing that meets the extension requirements,” Calabrese said. “As consumer advocates, we agree the Commission should give EchoStar every opportunity to deploy and become a meaningful mobile market competitor.”

EchoStar, the parent company of satellite TV provider DISH based in Englewood, Colo., serves more than 978,000 subscribers with internet access through Hughes Network Systems, a satellite operator subsidiary.