MobileX, Ergen Ask FCC for Deal Approval
MobileX has 107,000 subscribers, the companies disclosed. It provides prepaid service on Verizon’s network
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2026 – Charlie Ergen is set to acquire a controlling stake in MobileX, the company confirmed Monday.
MobileX and CONX, Ergen’s special purpose acquisition company, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission outlining the transaction more than a week after the Wall Street Journal first reported it.
“With access to [CONX]’s capital investment, technical resources, and engineering expertise, Mobile X will be positioned to accelerate deployment of new features and service offerings, which Mobile X would not likely be able to obtain on a stand-alone basis,” the companies wrote, without detailing what those new services might be.
After the deal closes, the companies said that “Mobile X will continue to operate under the same name and provide services pursuant to existing rates, terms, and conditions for the near term.”
MobileX is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) offering service on Verizon’s network. That MVNO deal will expire in nine months, the filing said, at which point Verizon would get a minority stake in MobileX.
Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, said it was likely the companies would simply renegotiate the deal.
He said it was likely Ergen wanted ultimately to fold MobileX into his own Boost Mobile, but that Verizon would likely have to approve for the MVNO deal to be transferred.
Boost has MVNO deals with AT&T and T-Mobile, and has access to SpaceX’s direct-to-device satellite service under the terms of a spectrum sale agreement. With MobileX under the umbrella, Ergen would control entities with MVNO agreements with all three national carriers and SpaceX.
SpaceX has lofty plans for its mobile service, even if analysts have been almost uniformly skeptical that its satellite service poses a serious threat to the mobile carriers within their footprints.
MobileX founder Peter Adderton, who will retain a stake in the company after the deal closes, has been implying on X that the company has plans to offer connectivity via multiple networks.
“I believe the fastest path to the future is a hybrid connectivity platform, like the one MobileX is building,” he posted Friday. “Go out and acquire millions of customers globally. Build the brand, the customer relationship and the platform layer that can seamlessly connect consumers across multiple networks.”
Subscribers, stakes
MobileX had 107,000 subscribers, according to the filing, compared to Boost’s 7.38 million. They both offer prepaid service.
Under the deal, Ergen’s CONX would hold 60.93 percent of MobileX, with Adderton owning 19.42 percent. Verizon’s stake will be 12.5 once the current MVNO expires.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Ergen’s deal would value MobileX at $200 million.
MobileX sells its service through Walmart stores and independent dealers. It offers customizable plans the customers can add or drop features from, plus a tool to recommend plans based on data usage.
Adderton also founded Boost before it was ultimately acquired by Sprint and sold to Ergen as a condition of the T-Mobile merger. He has frequently criticized Ergen and EchoStar’s management of the brand online.
“We haven’t cracked the code on how to be successful at the level we’d like to in the wireless business. In general, we’ve treaded water for four years now,” Ergen said on EchoStar’s earnings call this month. “We think we have some strategic initiatives going forward that will reinvigorate that part of our business.”
Dish Wireless, the subsidiary that built EchoStar's mobile network, is now in bankruptcy and engaged in a bitter fight with tower and infrastructure companies pursuing breach of contract claims.
