EchoStar avoids default, keeps FCC talks alive

EchoStar's subsidiary Dish made scheduled interest payments that were originally due July 1, thereby avoiding default. The company continues to work cooperatively with the Federal Communications Commission to resolve concerns raised in May, “including by providing responses and information at the FCC’s request.”[T]he company continues to progress wide-ranging efforts to explore alternative or complementary pathways that could, if successfully implemented, resolve the FCC’s stated concerns in a manner acceptable to the company,” said EchoStar. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen in May outlining concerns about the company’s 5G network buildout obligations and the use of 2 GHz spectrum licenses. Elon Musk’s SpaceX previously had complained that EchoStar wasn’t using the 2 GHz/AWS-4 spectrum as authorized and argued that the FCC should let satellite companies, like SpaceX, use it. The FCC subsequently launched formal inquiries into the EchoStar/Dish/Boost Mobile 5G buildout as well as its use of the 2 GHz mobile satellite spectrum (MSS). Chairman Carr recently said the FCC is pushing hard to free up spectrum, and “you have Dish effectively over the years sitting on a tremendous amount of spectrum that simply isn’t loaded.”