EchoStar hopes that by making one of many two funds due within the coming week, it has purchased itself a while to barter with the FCC. The regulatory company’s Chairman, Brendan Carr, has beforehand threatened to remove a few of EchoStar’s spectrum licenses. The second curiosity fee due July 1st, which EchoStar will not pay, involves $114 million and by refusing to make the fee, a 30-day grace interval is triggered.
Whereas EchoStar has sufficient money available to make each curiosity funds on time, the corporate is holding off on certainly one of them to be able to achieve some leverage in negotiations with the FCC. Carr desires EchoStar to surrender licenses on spectrum that he says the corporate is not utilizing. The FCC Chairman stated, “It is my view that proper now, we’re actually working arduous to verify this invaluable public useful resource of spectrum is put to make use of. No new information to interrupt, however I believe the established order wants to alter. There’s numerous totally different paths ahead there and all choices are nonetheless on the desk on the FCC.”
“We have to transfer rapidly. I believe there’s type of a slender window of alternative right here however the FCC nonetheless has quite a lot of our proceedings which can be type of sitting there and we’ll see if we have to reinvigorate these or not.”
                      -FCC Chairman Brendan Carr
Former FCC chief of employees Blair Levin, who now works as a coverage analyst at New Road Analysis, says that Carr desires to “pressure a reallocation of spectrum from EchoStar to others.” What Levin is speaking about is the two GHz spectrum licensed by EchoStar which FCC Chairman Carr requested EchoStar about in a letter. Carr desires to know precisely how typically EchoStar is utilizing the two GHz band.
The rationale why Carr is so thinking about EchoStar’s 2 GHz utilization is as a result of Elon Musk’s SpaceX has its eyes on the two GHz spectrum as a result of it’s superior for satellite tv for pc to cellphone communications than the airwaves that SpaceX makes use of now. The FCC chairman had no remark a couple of assembly he supposedly attended on the White Home earlier this month with President Donald Trump and EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen.
