EchoStar Fulfilled Last Commitment in Deadline Extension Deal, Company Says
The company said it 75 percent of new customers in certain areas were on its own network.
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2025 – EchoStar has already met a deadline to begin getting 75 percent of new subscribers in certain markets on its own mobile network, the company said.
The company had committed to onload new customers in certain areas onto its network, as opposed to connecting them via deals with AT&T and T-Mobile, in exchange for the Federal Communications Commission extending buildout deadlines elsewhere last year.
Under the terms of the deal, if EchoStar met that and other commitments by June 14, the deadlines would be extended even further to June 14, 2028.
FROM SPEEDING BEAD SUMMIT
Panel 1: How Are States Thinking About Reasonable Costs Now?
Panel 2: Finding the State Versus Federal Balance in BEAD
Panel 3: Reacting to the New BEAD NOFO Guidance
Panel 4: Building, Maintaining and Adopting Digital Workforce Skills
“EchoStar has met this commitment,” the company wrote in a June 17 filing with the agency. The company said last month it had already met its other commitments, which include 24,000 5G sites nationwide and a low-cost plan, among other things.
Under FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the agency is taking another look at the deadline extension, something he criticized at the time. The agency sought comment last month on Vermont-based VTel’s petition to reconsider the extension, and on whether EchoStar was using its 2 GigaHertz (GHz) satellite spectrum efficiently.
The dispute is existential for EchoStar, which has missed interest payments worth hundreds of millions, citing the uncertainty about whether its licenses are about to be degraded or revoked. After months of rebuffing requests to meet, Carr sat down earlier this month with EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen, before President Donald Trump reportedly urged a deal that would avoid bankrupting the company.
Musk's SpaceX is still aggressively pushing the FCC
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is still aggressively pushing for the FCC to open up the 2 GHz band to other operators, something EchoStar said would be unworkable due to interference. EchoStar uses the same band for terrestrial mobile service, which it says would be disrupted if other satellite operators enter the band.
“The Commission should swiftly clarify that EchoStar automatically forfeited its rights to the band long ago and accept applications from new competitive satellite entrants who can finally make productive use of the 2 GHz band for American consumers,” SpaceX reiterated in a Monday letter.
EchoStar has maintained its two operational satellites in the band satisfy its FCC obligations. The company has launched an additional satellite for testing U.S.-based service, and plans to launch another.
A broad array of stakeholders, including recently retired Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and other conservatives, have urged the agency not to follow through with undermining EchoStar’s licenses. They broadly argued it would make other wireless companies uneasy about the stability of their own licenses.
FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty was sworn in on Tuesday, giving Republicans a 2-1 majority at the agency. It’s not clear where Trusty falls on the EchoStar issue.
EchoStar's network serves about 1.3 million of its 7 million subscribers, the company told the FCC last month.
