EchoStar is selling $23 billion worth of its 5G spectrum licenses to AT&T while beginning to decommission parts of Boost Mobile's network. Under the agreement, Boost Mobile will primarily operate using AT&T's network, a change characterized as ending the role of an independent fourth carrier. Dish acquired Boost Mobile from Sprint for $1.4 billion after the DOJ required a replacement carrier following T-Mobile's Sprint acquisition. Dish invested heavily in spectrum to build a 5G network that it said reached about 80 percent of the U.S. population, but mounting debt prompted strategic consolidation with EchoStar.
EchoStar is selling $23 billion worth of its spectrum licenses to AT&T as it begins decommissioning parts of Boost Mobile's network. Dish's parent company, EchoStar, is selling a broad swath of its 5G spectrum licenses to AT&T for $23 billion. Under the deal, the Dish-owned Boost Mobile will primarily operate using AT&T's growing network - a move that marks "the end of the road for the fourth carrier," says Roger Entner, founder and lead analyst at Recon Analytics.
As part of T-Mobile's deal to acquire Sprint in 2019, the Department of Justice stipulated that another company must replace it as the fourth major wireless carrier. Dish came forward to acquire Boost Mobile from Sprint, paying $1.4 billion to purchase the budget carrier and other prepaid assets. Since then, Dish has spent billions acquiring spectrum to build out its own 5G network, which the company said was close to reaching 80 percent of the US population as of last year, in line with the Federal Communications Commission's deadline to meet certain coverage requirements.
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