Dish Network’s long-shot bid to become the fourth national wireless carrier in the US is officially over. Parent company EchoStar announced today that it has agreed to sell a major portion of Dish’s 5G and LTE spectrum licenses to AT&T for $23 billion, a deal that will reshape Boost Mobile into a hybrid carrier operating primarily on AT&T’s towers.
What got sold, and what’s left
$23 billion worth of airwaves, old hopes, and dreams — in that order
All AT&T had to do was wait, and it came out with a big win.
The sale covers 30MHz of mid-band 3.45GHz spectrum and 20MHz of low-band 600MHz spectrum, spectrum EchoStar once promised to use to build out a nationwide 5G network. Instead, that network will now be wound down in pieces. Boost Mobile customers won’t lose service — AT&T towers and T-Mobile’s network will continue to provide coverage — but the infrastructure Dish spent years and billions of dollars building is effectively being sidelined.
Dish entered the wireless market under government mandate. When T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2019, the Department of Justice required that Sprint’s prepaid businesses be sold off to create a viable fourth carrier. Dish paid $1.4 billion for Boost Mobile and has since burned through billions more acquiring spectrum licenses, deploying a 5G network, and meeting minimum FCC build-out milestones.
But the company never shook off its crushing debt load, and its network ambitions drew increased scrutiny this year. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr criticized EchoStar for losing Boost customers and for underutilizing its valuable AWS-4 holdings— spectrum not included in today’s deal. Earlier this year, SpaceX even petitioned the FCC to open EchoStar’s 2GHz spectrum, accusing the company of barely using the airwaves it controls.
What’s next for each company
By selling the spectrum, EchoStar avoids a drawn-out fight with regulators over whether it was hoarding valuable frequencies. “This spectrum sale to AT&T and hybrid MNO agreement are critical steps toward resolving the FCC’s spectrum utilization concerns,” Dish co-founder Charlie Ergen said in today’s press release.
For AT&T, the acquisition is a straightforward win. The carrier will significantly bolster its nationwide 5G footprint across virtually every market in the US. The deal is expected to close in mid-2026, pending regulatory approval.
EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan said proceeds from the sale will be used to retire debt and fund future operations, while the company “continues to evaluate strategic opportunities” for its remaining spectrum. Boost Mobile, meanwhile, will survive in name, but not as the backbone of America’s long-promised fourth carrier. While today’s spectrum sell-off isn’t surprising by any means, the road to wireless competition still looks that much more like a dead end.
