DISH Network parent Echostar (NASDAQ: SATS) is asking the FCC for more time to construct portions of DISH’s 5G network. The company says it’s made a lot of progress in the past four years, noting it did not have “a single 5G tower deployed” in 2019. The company has faced “unanticipated intervening global events beyond EchoStar’s control” and says there’s “more to do to be able to realize the proconsumer vision of the competitive fourth facilities-based carrier envisioned by the FCC and DoJ.”
That’s why EchoStar is asking for a waiver and extension of time to meet the applicable final construction milestones for a subset of DISH’s wireless licenses. Those would be contingent upon meeting accelerated milestones in other markets and other public interest commitments.
Specifically, EchoStar is requesting that the Commission extend the construction milestones associated with certain AWS-4, Lower 700 MHz E Block, 600 MHz, AWS-3 and AWS H Block licenses from June 14, 2025 to December 14, 2026. It asks the FCC to extend the construction milestones associated with its AWS-3 licenses from October 27, 2025 to December 14, 2026.
EchoStar also asks that the agency extend final construction milestones from December 14, 2026 to June 14, 2028. “This timeline will more closely align EchoStar’s deployment in these areas with its 3.45 GHz spectrum licenses, thereby reducing the cost, expense and resources necessary to go to a tower twice,” the company says.
In exchange, EchoStar commits to increasing the DISH O-RAN network coverage area from the current 70 percent to 80 percent of the U.S. population by December 31, 2024. It says the increased coverage “will enable EchoStar to better achieve scale and provide a more competitive 5G service to more consumers, which is the best way to discipline pricing against the incumbents for consumers nationwide, including in rural areas.”
It commits to accelerating and expanding final construction milestones for “over 500 licenses” and to offering a low-cost 5G plan to consumers nationwide during the extension period. EchoStar pledges to deploy 24,000 towers by June 14, 2025 (9,000 more towers than its 15,000 2023 tower obligation) and to allow any eligible small carrier or Tribal nation to lease on a first-come, first-served basis, any of the licenses identified in its request.
Commenting on the request, NewStreet Research (NSR) Policy Advisor Blair Levin said in a client note that NSR believes EchoStar CEO and President Hamid Akhavan laid the groundwork for the appeal in March during the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call. NSR interprets what Akhavan said as meaning a fourth competitor could bring the benefits of competition to the public, “but that FCC buildout metrics will force wasteful investments,” writes Levin. “In the future, if successful, DISH will need those licenses, but spending money preserving them reduces its chances of being successful because in the near-term it takes resources away from better monetization opportunities which is also where the most customers are,” Levin explains.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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