EchoStar lying in wait
May 12, 2025
By Chris Forrester
EchoStar-owned Hughes Network Systems has reported a 3 per cent fall in revenue and a loss of 30,000 broadband subscribers during the first quarter. It now has 853,000 subscribers. But CEO Hamid Akhavan told analysts that while EchoStar was yet to make any announcements its engineering plans were ready but getting the timing right for the company’s next stage was not easy.
“We certainly intend to be in the market as the leading provider of mobile direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity using our S-band rights internationally and AWS-4 domestically. We are very much focused on it. It is one of the most important strategic priorities in terms of business development,” Akhavan said.
But he stressed that EchoStar was cautious, saying that even though Chipsets are being made now.
“If I had a satellite today, I would not launch it today,” he told analysts. “The satellite has a life of several years in a LEO system. If the satellite goes up, but there are no devices to talk to — what is the point? What is the point of depreciating a very expensive asset up in the sky without being able to get revenue from it? The timing of when the satellite has to go up versus the available population of compatible devices on Earth is a timing decision that is very important. That’s why we have timing for that optimized window. We are not missing the window of opportunity.”
He added “I think that [the D2D] highway is paved and ready for us. Marrying all of this together for us is just the most natural thing because we have it all in house. We are the only company that can do it all in house.”
Hughes has a contracted backlog of some $1.6 billion, up 5 per cent on the previous year.
EchoStar-owned Boost mobile added 150,000 net new subs in Q1.
As for EchoStar itself, it appears to be in better shape than it was a year ago, but it reported a loss of some $202.7 million in Q1 and investment analysts continue to say it is when, not if, the company will file for bankruptcy.
MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote that bankruptcy would be viewed by many equity investors as a good thing, expediting the liquidation of a collection of assets that are the reason they’re holding onto EchoStar stock.
“If a bankruptcy were to eliminate EchoStar’s tower lease obligations, well, all the better; those obligations are simply another layer of senior debt. More for everyone else,” he wrote in a note to clients.
As for pay-TV operations Dish TV and Sling TV, they suffered a combined loss of 380,000 subs (from 7.78 million to about 7.5 million) during Q1. The pay-TV segment’s revenue decreased from $2.7 billion in the comparable 2024 quarter to $2.5 billion (down 7.4 per cent), which Echostar says was “in line with expectations.”
Dish TV said it had seen its lowest churn (1.36 per cent) in over 10 years.
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