The news that AT&T is paying some $23 billion (€19.8bn) for terrestrial cellular spectrum to EchoStar has alerted many analysts to the implied value of EchoStar’s remaining telephony spectrum. Reports are numerous that both Elon Musk – who has long coveted EchoStar satellite spectrum – and AT&T rival T-Mobile could be next in line for spectrum.

The reports – wholly unconfirmed – suggest that with EchoStar having agreed a process where its telephony division, Boost Mobile, can piggy-back on AT&T’s cellular circuits means that there is less pressure on EchoStar to hold onto to its frequencies.

FCC chairman Brendan Carr has made no secret that he wants EchoStar to sell up, saying that the US only needs three cellular operators (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) toa provide adequate competition for consumers.

Business news site Semafor states: “Starlink has become a global household name by building out a network of low-earth orbit satellites, launched by its parent company, SpaceX, that provide internet service. But it also wants its own network to provide cell coverage, something that would disrupt the stranglehold that AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have on the US market. Those efforts were opposed by both Ergen’s Dish Network and Globalstar, another satellite phone network.”

While the above comments are all focused on terrestrial spectrum, there is also possibility of more satellite spectrum becoming available. SES/Intelsat have said that they could free up more than 100 MHz of satellite which would be repurposed (and auctioned by the FCC) for 5G and cellular expansion.

The spectrum (in the C-band at 3.98-4.2 GHz) could be up for auction by mid-2026, according to Carr. The last C-band satellite auction generated billions in 2020 for SES, Intelsat, Paris-based Eutelsat and Telesat of Canada out of the $80 billion generated by the auction for the FCC. That auction covered some 280 MHz of C-band spectrum. This new concept would be less spectrum but the value of such spectrum has increased over the past few years, as indicated by the sum AT&T is reportedly paying to EchoStar.

SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh suggested on a recent earnings call that the 2020 transactions may not be a blueprint for what will happen with the upper C-band.

“Today’s spectrum is much more valuable and has grown in the past two years,” he said, going on to suggest it was possible to free up more than 100MHz of C-band, which would not damage SES or Intelsat’s operations. “You can see the direct-to-device folks would like to get their hands on it,” he added, noting that a key market for the new spectrum is the burgeoning connected cars sector.

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Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite, M&A, Spectrum

Tags: Echostar, elon musk, SES, T-Mobile