Late last month, Boost Mobile lost its opportunity to be the nation's fourth facilities-based network when it caved in to pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. The latter accused Boost Mobile parent EchoStar of sitting on spectrum that it wasn't looking to use right away and claimed that EchoStar was hoping to profit by sitting on these airwaves and speculating on them becoming more valuable. A reminder. EchoStar became Boost's parent at the end of 2023 when it bought Dish Network.
Echostar to become a hybrid MVNO
At the end of August, EchoStar sold 30MHz of 3.45GHz mid-band spectrum to AT&T to improve the coverage of its AT&T 5G+ service. Also sold to AT&TAT&T was 20MHz of low-band 600MHz airwaves that will help AT&T improve its Nationwide AT&T 5G service. The deal is expected to close next year. The spectrum licenses sold cover 400 markets in the U.S. EchoStar was in the midst of building a standalone 5G network when it made the deal with AT&T and followed it up with another deal in early September.
That deal saw SpaceX buy approximately 90MHz of spectrum from EchoStar for $17 billion, which ends the FCC's investigation into EchoStar's use of its spectrum. SpaceX wanted the spectrum to widen the footprint of its direct-to-cell satellite technology. SpaceX Chairman and CEO Elon Musk had wanted the spectrum, which some believe was the reason why FCC Chairman Carr had pressured EchoStar in the first place. The deal sends approximately 40MHz of 2GHz/AWS-4 band spectrum and 50MHz of H-Block Spectrum to SpaceX.
Should EchoStar had given in to FCC Chairman Carr?
No way. EchoStar should have kept its spectrum.
50%
Yes. It was hoarding spectrum and made the right choice.
50%
EchoStar will have to make a huge adjustment. Without its spectrum, it will now become a hybrid MVNO using its own core, but its traffic will run through AT&T's network. With a nod to FCC Chairman Carr, EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan called EchoStar's move away from being the nation's fourth facilities-based carrier a "forced pivot." He said that the spectrum sale and the move to a hybrid MVNO were not the desired outcome.
Ookla compares Boost's 5G data speeds to the rest of the wireless providers in the U.S.
Ookla, the company behind the Speedtest website published a report today discussing Boost Mobile's 5G data speeds, which explains what the U.S. mobile industry will be missing now that EchoStar is decommissioning parts of its wireless network. The report indicated that Boost's 5G median download speeds were lower than those of its rivals, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
Last month, Boost's median 5G download data speeds as measured by Ookla came to 149.55 Mbps compared to 219.38 Mbps for all U.S. providers combined. Boost's Median 5G upload speeds last month came to 8.93 Mbps versus 10.81 Mbps for all U.S. providers combined. And Boost's median 5G latency also failed to match the median speed of all U.S. providers. Boost had a medial latency of 61 milliseconds (ms) compared to 50 (ms) for the combined carriers.
Boost was slower that the combined 4G download data speed of all U.S. wireless providers during August 2025. | Image credit-Ookla
Boost had 7.357 million wireless customers as of June. According to Ookla, Boost will probably sell its remaining spectrum, made up of AWS and CBRS licenses, to Verizon. For what it's worth, Boost had been using three spectrum bands for its customers: Band n71 (600 MHz), Band n66 (AWS), and Band n70 (AWS-4). EchoStar owns licenses in other spectrum bands such as 3.5 GHz CBRS and 3.45 GHz, but didn't have the radio equipment needed to actually employ those bands for its customers.
What will happen next to Boost customers?
Boost had used AT&T and T-Mobile to complement its own network. Ookla's testing showed that Boost leans heavily on AT&T's network, using it in metropolitan areas and for the majority of calls made along rural state routes. Once the deals between EchoStar and AT&T, and EchoStar and SpaceX, close and Boost gives up all of the spectrum it sold, you can expect that the new hybrid MVNO Boost will be using AT&T's network.
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No longer a candidate to join AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to become one of the Big 4, Boost will partially return to its roots as a hybrid MVNO.
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