There are widespread reports that US cellular giant Verizon Communications is negotiating to buy wireless spectrum from EchoStar. Reuters summed up the situation saying the discussions involve EchoStar’s AWS-3 licences, which are valuable for carrying 5G wireless signals.
If the deal goes through, Verizon would join AT&T and SpaceX as recent buyers of EchoStar’s wireless spectrum licences.
In September, EchoStar said it expects to hold $24.1 billion (€20.5bn) in cash after using spectrum sale proceeds to repay debt, further strengthening its balance sheet and supporting growth across wireless, satellite and tech.
A sale of spectrum by EchoStar to Verizon would add to this sum. EchoStar’s regulatory filing has valued its ‘spare’ spectrum as $9.8 billion.
EchoStar started selling certain assets after the US Federal Communications Commission raised concerns over its compliance with spectrum buildout rules and use of mobile-satellite service spectrum.
There is an FCC-planned auction for mid-2026 (Advanced Wireless Services AWS-3). But by acquiring spectrum from EchoStar now, Verizon could reduce its overall costs by avoiding some of the uncertainty of the bidding process.
Analysts from investment bank BNP-Paribas said: “Having seen their leading spectrum position eroded over the last decade, first by TMUS/Sprint, and more recently by AT&T – Verizon has been under pressure to narrow the gap to (in spectrum holdings) their competitors once again. What wasn’t clear was whether they would look to acquire this AWS-3 spectrum or prefer to wait for the FCC to auction of c. 100MHz of the upper C-Band. If this deal were to transpire, then (price dependent) we would see it as broadly neutral for Verizon, a small positive for T/TMUS and a small negative for the US Cable players.”
