Broad Swath of Stakeholders Warns FCC Undoing EchoStar Deal Would Cause Harm
More than 60 stakeholders, including former GOP commissioners, back Dish/EchoStar in defense of its 2 GHz licenses
Jericho Casper
WASHINGTON, June 9, 2025 – A wide variety of telecommunications stakeholders used strong language in pre-emptively condemning the apparent effort of the Federal Communications Commission to revoke spectrum licenses belonging to EchoStar, a subsidiary of Dish.
In filings on Friday, and communications on Monday, these stakeholders said that the agency would jeopardize its own credibility and precedent were it to follow through its proposed actions to strip the company’s control of its licenses in the 2 GigaHertz (GHz) band.
“Public harm would result from the inevitable litigation and unavoidable administrative delay that would be caused by rescinding the grant of extension on build-out requirements, taking away EchoStar’s spectrum licenses, and reauctioning those licenses to other parties,” the Free State Foundation’s President Randolph May wrote in comments to the FCC. “Legal stability is a necessary ingredient for the operation of any marketplace.”
In the company’s own reply comments also filed Friday, EchoStar and a broad array of supporters pushed back against two parallel proceedings launched in May by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr: One questioning whether the FCC should reconsider extending EchoStar’s 5G buildout timelines, and another reexamining its use of mobile-satellite service (MSS) licenses in the 2 GHz band.
The proceedings stem from petitions filed by SpaceX and VTel Wireless.
EchoStar warned that any FCC action to revoke or revise its licenses would be “unlawful, unconstitutional, discriminatory, and utterly baseless,” and called the proceedings a “clear due process violation,” accusing the agency of applying “after-the-fact technical standards” that were not in effect when the licenses were issued.
Support from more than 60 vendors, contractors, associations and public interest groups
The company’s filing cited support from more than 60 equipment vendors, contractors, trade associations, and public interest groups. Former Republican FCC Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Harold Furchtgott-Roth also weighed in, warning that revocation would destabilize spectrum policy and discourage future investment.
“Any undue regulatory action that halts or imperils EchoStar’s network deployment… would adversely impact this significant investment in Open RAN technology and cast doubt on innovation,” a coalition of Open RAN vendors, representing Samsung, Mavenir, and Fujitsu, wrote in comments to the FCC.
"EchoStar is creating crucial, meaningful opportunities for Open RAN vendors like us," Keysight Technologies’ Vice President of Wireless Kalyan Sundhar agreed in a separate filing.
A coalition of 36 general contractors filed comments that they had helped deploy more than 24,000 cell sites for EchoStar's network, reaching over 80 percent of the U.S. population. This was one of EchoStar’s buildout obligations under a 2024 agreement struck with the FCC in exchange for a deadline extension on use of its spectrum licenses. The milestone was now being questioned by VTel Wireless.
“EchoStar’s deployment has created many jobs in local communities across the countries – both at our companies and those in the broader wireless infrastructure ecosystem,” the coalition of contractors wrote.
Former FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly also weighed in, emphasizing the importance of regulatory consistency. “Companies should receive fair treatment by the government and be able to rely on agreements entered into with government agencies,” he wrote in a post to X on May 26.
Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute similarly urged the FCC not to enforce rules retroactively. “We do not support revoking licenses or reassigning spectrum as a punitive measure… this would reduce market entry and send a chilling message to future challengers,” the groups wrote to the FCC.
Carr has refused to meet with Echostar, company asserts
EchoStar highlighted its repeated but unanswered attempts to engage with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, noting in its filing that it had made outreach efforts dating back to September 2024, when Carr was still a commissioner.
“All of these requests… have gone unanswered,” EchoStar wrote in communications with Broadband Breakfast, adding that its most recent meeting request was submitted on May 12, 2025, shortly after the FCC launched the current proceedings.
In their final reply comments, SpaceX and VTel reiterated earlier arguments EchoStar dismissed as having “neither generated new support” nor “introduced new evidence,” instead doubling down on calls to revoke the company’s licenses and reallocate the 2 GHz band.
