\n<\/p>\n
\n\tCharlie Ergen\u2018s telecom giant EchoStar unveiled a definitive agreement with AT&T to sell spectrum licenses for approximately\u00a0$23 billion.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe company said on Tuesday that the deal covers \u201ca total of 50 MHz of nationwide spectrum,\u201d including 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum, subject to regulatory approval. \u201cIn addition, the companies have amended their network services agreement to create a hybrid mobile network operator (MNO) relationship,\u201d the firms said. \u201cThis transaction is part of\u00a0EchoStar\u2018s ongoing efforts to resolve the\u00a0Federal Communications Commission\u2019s inquiries.\u201d
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
Said EchoStar co-founder and chairman Ergen: \u201cThis arrangement benefits both AT&T and Boost Mobile subscribers. I\u2019m enormously proud of the\u00a0EchoStar\u00a0team for deploying the world\u2019s first Open RAN network in record time, despite industry skepticism and in the face of the many challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d He added: \u201cEchoStar\u00a0and Boost Mobile have met all of the\u00a0FCC\u2019s\u00a0network buildout milestones. However, this spectrum sale to AT&T and hybrid MNO agreement are critical steps toward resolving the\u00a0FCC\u2019s\u00a0spectrum utilization concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Hamid Akhavan, CEO and president of\u00a0EchoStar: \u201cThis transaction puts our business on a solid financial path, further facilitating\u00a0EchoStar\u2019s\u00a0long-term success, and enhancing our ability to\u00a0innovate and compete as a hybrid network operator. The proceeds of this transaction will be used for, among other things, retiring certain debt obligations and funding\u00a0EchoStar\u2019s\u00a0continued operations and growth initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe concluded: \u201cWe continue to evaluate strategic opportunities for our remaining spectrum portfolio in partnership with the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0government and wireless industry participants.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe operations of\u00a0EchoStar\u2019s other businesses, including Dish TV, Sling and Hughes, \u201cwill not be impacted by this transaction,\u201d the company highlighted.<\/p>\n
\n\tAT&T said the licenses cover more than 400 markets across the U.S., strengthening its low-band and mid-band spectrum holdings. \u201cThis acquisition bolsters and expands our spectrum portfolio while enhancing customers\u2019 5G wireless and home internet experience in even more markets,\u201d said AT&T CEO\u00a0John Stankey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Charlie Ergen\u2018s telecom giant EchoStar unveiled a definitive agreement with AT&T to sell spectrum licenses for approximately\u00a0$23 billion. The company said on Tuesday that the deal covers \u201ca total of 50 MHz of nationwide spectrum,\u201d including 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum, subject to regulatory approval. \u201cIn addition, the companies have amended their network services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[5253,10872,4698,10874,7356,545,10873],"class_list":{"0":"post-17897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-billion","9":"tag-echostar","10":"tag-fcc","11":"tag-inquiries","12":"tag-licenses","13":"tag-sale","14":"tag-spectrum"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}