FCC investigation looms over EchoStar’s missed interest payments and a new satellite

EchoStar is skipping curiosity funds even because it commissions a brand new Dish TV satellite tv for pc — citing “uncertainty” attributable to a Federal Communications Fee (FCC) probe.

Whereas these funds are on maintain, EchoStar, which Dish Community rejoined final yr, remains to be investing in its TV enterprise. It commissioned a brand new communications satellite tv for pc for tv, Maxar House Programs announced yesterday. The satellite tv for pc, EchoStar XXVI, is meant to be accomplished by 2028 to assist Dish TV protection throughout 50 US states and Puerto Rico.

The FCC is investigating whether or not EchoStar is hitting necessities to deploy 5G that it’s supposed to fulfill with a view to maintain its spectrum licenses. Dish Community merged again with EchoStar — which additionally owns Enhance Cellular — to attempt to compete in 5G, with the objective of making an attempt to turn into a competitor with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Cellular. The FCC probe has led EchoStar to “freeze its decision-making” for Enhance Cellular, the Wall Road Journal studies.

SpaceX can also be a rival vying with EchoStar for spectrum licenses within the 2 GHz band. Elon Musk’s firm performed its personal evaluation of Dish’s mobile indicators and referred to as EchoStar’s use of the gigahertz band “de minimis at greatest” in an April filing to the FCC. EchoStar accused SpaceX of a “land seize” for spectrum the Wall Street Journal reported final month.

Neither Dish Community nor EchoStar responded instantly to a request for remark from The Verge.