Photo: Dish Wireless/EchoStar 

EchoStar has reached a deal to sell 50 MHz of nationwide spectrum to AT&T for $23 billion, the companies announced Tuesday. 

Specifically, AT&T will purchase approximately 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and approximately 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum in an all-cash transaction, the companies announced. The spectrum covers over 400 markets across the U.S., and AT&T said it will support stronger 5G coverage for the company’s network. 

Under the deal, EchoStar will become a hybrid mobile network operator (MNO). EchoStar will decommission parts of its Boost Mobile radio access network (RAN) and will serve Boost Mobile customers with connectivity from AT&T’s network. 

EchoStar’s stock jumped 70% on Tuesday after the deal was announced. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2026 and is subject to regulatory approval. 

This sale comes as the FCC has an open inquiry into EchoStar’s spectrum utilization, which involves satellite spectrum and mobile spectrum. The FCC opened the inquiry after SpaceX raised questions about EchoStar’s spectrum utilization. 

EchoStar leadership recently said the company has been in collaboration with the FCC to reach a solution, while asserting the company has delivered on its network commitment build-outs to the FCC. 

“EchoStar and Boost Mobile have met all of the FCC’s network buildout milestones. However, this spectrum sale to AT&T and hybrid MNO agreement are critical steps toward resolving the FCC’s spectrum utilization concerns,” EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen said in a release about the transaction. 

EchoStar said its other businesses, including Dish TV, Sling, and Hughes will not be impacted by this transaction.

EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan said the transaction puts the business on a “solid financial path.” EchoStar has about $25.4 billion in long-term debt, according to its most recent financial results. 

“The proceeds of this transaction will be used for, among other things, retiring certain debt obligations and funding EchoStar’s continued operations and growth initiatives,” Akhavan said. “We continue to evaluate strategic opportunities for our remaining spectrum portfolio in partnership with the U.S. government and wireless industry participants.”

It also comes after EchoStar recently announced plans to build a $1.3 billion satellite constellation for direct-to-device services, with the full project expected to cost $5 billion. 

AT&T said the deal “significantly strengthens” its low-band and mid-band spectrum holdings. CEO John Stankey told investors the spectrum will support AT&T to put more capacity on its networks for emerging AI and IoT use cases like AI-native devices, autonomous vehicles, and advanced robotics. 

“We’ll work with the FCC to ensure that this spectrum is deployed on a timeline that serves the public interest. This transaction is good for our customers and will benefit Americans across the country, putting fallow and undeveloped spectrum into service quickly, improving network performance, and cost effectively adding capacity at lower marginal costs than planned network densification,” Stankey told investors. 

Investors estimated that AT&T is paying a $7 billion premium for the spectrum, and Stankey said he’s “well aware” that the $23 billion sale price is more than what Dish (now part of EchoStar) paid for the spectrum. He said the price is in the range of precedent for similar types of spectrum transactions and sees it as a “win-win construct.”