Spectrum

EchoStar's proposed sale of spectrum to SpaceX for future, enhanced direct-to-device services drew several responses in the Federal Communications Commission docket. Some, such as Liberty Latin America (LLA), object strongly to the transaction, while others aren't objecting, but are still urging the FCC to treat the deal with scrutiny.

EchoStar provided a lot of drama in 2025, and it looks to be on a similar course as we kick off 2026.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr summarized some of the FCC’s key wins in 2025. They include:

The telecommunications industry has always advanced on the strength of standardization. From the earliest days of the telephone network to today’s global digital infrastructure, compatibility has been the foundation that allows communication across carriers, technologies, and geographies. Yet for the first time in decades, we are entering an era where the access technologies powering enterprise connectivity—fiber broadband, LTE and 5G, Starlink and other low-Earth orbit satellite systems, legacy Ethernet and more—do not share a common physical or transport-layer standard.

President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to ensure America’s leadership in 6G development.

We are advancing a Build America Agenda—a concrete plan to unleash high-speed infrastructure builds, drive down prices for consumers, and restore U.S. leadership in wireless. We are reinvigorating the agency’s consumer protection work, including its efforts to crack down on illegal robocalls. We are empowering broadcasters to meet their public interest obligations.  We are strengthening America’s national security and advancing public safety. We are undertaking the largest deregulatory effort in the agency’s history.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau established the procedures to be used for Auction 113, the auction of 200 Advanced Wireless Services licenses for spectrum in the FCC’s inventory in the 1695–1710 MHz, 1755–1780 MHz, and 2155–2180 MHz bands (collectively, the “AWS-3” bands).

Months after staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency were found in the Federal Communications Commission directory, the FCC is being accused of slow-walking demands for information about what they did there. On February 24th, advocacy group Frequency Forward and journalist Nina Burleigh filed a public records request to the FCC, seeking details about DOGE’s activities and whether they created conflicts of interest with DOGE creator Elon Musk.

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service band and its shared-use model has opened the door to multiple deployment use cases, including cable operator wireless offloading in high-usage areas to keep MVNO costs in check, a few fixed wireless access deployments, and an array of private network rollouts. Charter Communications, which has already deployed CBRS in several markets, is taking things a step further with its ongoing "Fiber-powered DAS" initiative, which is fo

I recently returned from Baku, where I made my first international trip as a Federal Communications Commissioner to represent the US at the World Telecommunication Development Conference. For a new Commissioner, it was a remarkable way to see the global communications landscape up close. One thing became clear very quickly: even though the FCC is fundamentally a domestic agency, none of our challenges are purely domestic anymore.