AT&T Completes $23 B Purchase of EchoStar Wireless Spectrum

EchoStar, the parent company of DISH, finalized the sale of its U.S. wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T in a transaction valued at roughly $23 billion. The deal, first announced in August 2025 and approved by the FCC in May 2026, adds about 30 MHz of 3.45 GHz mid‑band and 20 MHz of 600 MHz low‑band spectrum, covering nearly every U.S. market. AT&T says the new spectrum will boost 5G capacity and download speeds and support AI‑ready connectivity.

Charlie Ergen, co‑founder and chairman of EchoStar, praised the company’s deployment of the world’s first Open RAN network and described the sale as a critical step toward addressing FCC concerns about spectrum utilization. In its Q2 2026 earnings call, AT&T highlighted the deal’s contribution to higher adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, and a plan to return more than $45 billion to shareholders between 2026 and 2028 while targeting a net‑debt‑to‑EBITDA ratio around 2.5×.