Tower Companies Not Letting up on Push for EchoStar Deal Conditions
The Wireless Infrastructure Association made its case to the FCC’s top lawyer.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2026 – Tower and infrastructure companies are not letting up in their push for the Federal Communications Commission to ensure EchoStar uses some spectrum sale proceeds to pay its subsidiary’s bills.
A group of executives from more than 40 companies and trade groups penned another letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Thursday (Feb. 19) to make their case again for the agency to tack that condition on to any future approval of EchoStar’s over $40 billion in spectrum deals.
“Eroding confidence in the use of long-term agreements will increase capital costs, slow deployment, reduce the likelihood of new facilities-based competitors, and ultimately harm consumers,” they wrote. “These impacts cannot be remedied after the fact by the [FCC] – they require FCC action prior to approval of the spectrum transactions.”
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