EchoStar Airwaves Sale Spells Death for 4-Player Mobile Market

EchoStar Corp.’s sale of billions of dollars in wireless spectrum to AT&T Inc. and SpaceX will benefit Charlie Ergen and the companies involved, but may leave consumers facing higher prices and fewer choices for mobile phone service.

For some antitrust experts, EchoStar’s spectrum selloff represents a regulatory failure dating from the first Trump presidency, when Ergen’s company was hailed as a promising newcomer that would replace the competition lost when T-Mobile US Inc. acquired Sprint.

Charlie Ergen

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Five years later, US consumers are paying among the highest wireless bills in the world — an outcome many prophesied at the ...