EchoStar’s recent moves to monetize its spectrum holdings have left the former network operator with just a fraction of its formerly deep license portfolio and no customers on its once highly touted open radio access network infrastructure, but it maintains an appetite to acquire more wireless spectrum licenses.

EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen told investors during the company's latest earnings call that it had completely shifted all of its Boost Mobile wireless customers to AT&T’s network in a move tied to the former network operator’s spectrum monetization-led corporate restructuring. Those customers are still served through Boost Mobile’s virtualized 5G core, but are connected to AT&T’s physical network infrastructure.

Ergen said that the network shutdown was completed in the fourth quarter, when “we moved all our customers off of our network.” A corresponding EchoStar 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) more succinctly put that move as November 15, 2025.

Ergen further explained that, as of the date of the Boost Mobile network shutdown, the carrier’s owned network stopped generating revenues. This is important as it’s tied to ongoing litigation between EchoStar and some of the Boost Mobile network infrastructure vendors.

Toward that tiff, Ergen continues to claim EchoStar does not need to honor the term of contracts due to what the carrier is terming a “force majeure” event that crippled the carrier’s ability to operate.

“We informed all of our all of our vendors that we had a force majeure event, as we're allowed, as we have per contracts,” Ergen said, adding that the Dish Wireless subsidiary had settled “hundreds of contracts” and that the still pending litigation would be “protracted.”

“Because the lawyers talk to the lawyers and they don't typically in a hurry to get anything done,” Ergen said. “It's just different than when business people talk to business people. I wish we weren't here, you know, … it's an ongoing and evolving situation, but we'll continue to appropriately respond to any litigation that's been commenced, … we'll assess all of our available steps in front of any ports or venues, and we'll engage with more tower companies to see good, consensual solutions, and we'll consider all our alternatives available to the company that's party to the tower group contracts to resolve these matters.”

EchoStar took more than $17 billion in impairment charges through the last half of 2025, tied to its network decommissioning work.

Customers out and more spectrum in?

Those Boost Mobile customers are now traversing AT&T’s mobile network as part of AT&T’s $23bn acquisition of most of the spectrum Boost Mobile was using to power its owned network. EchoStar noted in its 10-K that those approximately seven million Boost Mobile customers used enough data on AT&T’s network to trigger a requirement that AT&T continue to serve network services to EchoStar’s Boost Mobile customers through at least 2031.

AT&T’s spectrum deal with EchoStar included 30 megahertz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and approximately 20 megahertz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum, which AT&T CEO John Stankey admitted the carrier paid a premium price to acquire. For its part, AT&T has already started to put those spectrum licenses into play with a big focus on expanding its 5G-based fixed-wireless access (FWA) service.

EchoStar, in separate deals, also sold its AWS-3 (unpaired 1.7 GHz), AWS-4 (2/2.2 GHz), and H-Block (2 GHz) licenses to SpaceX for approximately $11bn in considerations, most of which is tied to a stake in SpaceX. The company also continues to control spectrum licenses in the 700 MHz band as well as some paired spectrum licenses in the AWS-3 band, which it has said it was looking to monetize.

“I think our goal is to find the spectrum that we continue to use, continue to have, is find a home for that … make sure that that's going to get used in the quickest and fastest and the best way for consumers and for technical leadership in the United States,” Ergen said. “And I hope maybe we play a part in that, but we may not, but it's still obviously a valuable asset that we have.”

Despite the seeming change in operational focus, EchoStar has filed an application to participate in the FCC’s upcoming Auction 113 proceedings. That auction is set to include 200 licenses for spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz bands, with proceedings set to begin June 2.