AT&T Acquires EchoStar Spectrum to Enhance Broadband Services

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2025 – AT&T’s $23 billion acquisition of EchoStar’s spectrum aims to enhance the company’s fixed wireless broadband service, AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches announced Thursday.

Desroches emphasized the significance of the purchase during a Bank of America conference in New York. He stated, “We think that’s incredibly important because in instances where we haven’t gotten to fiber, but we plan to, it allows us to accelerate our legacy decommissioning.” AT&T plans to retire its aging copper infrastructure by 2029, excluding California.

The acquisition includes licenses for 3.45 GigaHertz and 600 MHz, enabling AT&T to combine fixed and mobile broadband services and improve customer retention. Desroches noted that offering converged plans can reduce customer churn by 40 to 50 percent.

EchoStar’s decision to sell came after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pressured the company to better utilize its airwaves. Desroches remarked that EchoStar had approached AT&T for this deal. The FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, is not convinced that EchoStar is maximizing the potential of its spectrum.

New Street Research analysts predict that the new spectrum will allow AT&T to add approximately 900,000 consumer fixed wireless subscribers, with a potential total of 6.3 million. Currently, AT&T has over 1 million fixed wireless subscribers, having added 203,000 in the second quarter.

As part of the acquisition, AT&T aims to deploy the 3.45 GHz airwaves quickly, while the 600 MHz spectrum will take years to activate, according to CEO John Stankey. However, Desroches assured investors that this wouldn’t alter the company’s long-term spending plans, which are set at $23 – $24 billion annually from 2026 to 2027, an increase from a previous estimate of $22 billion.

Alongside these developments, EchoStar has laid off 500 positions at its wireless subsidiary, Boost Mobile, following pressure from the FCC. EchoStar confirmed that the layoffs stemmed directly from the AT&T transaction, as parts of their network will be decommissioned over time.

Despite the workforce reduction, Boost Mobile will continue its operations as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), predominantly using AT&T’s network with some support from T-Mobile.

Echostar CEO Hamid Akhavan described the layoffs as a necessary step toward satisfying recent FCC inquiries, demonstrating the company’s commitment to innovation.