- EchoStar added just 16,000 wireless subscribers in Q1, down sharply from 150,000 a year ago
- The company blamed slower growth on fewer subsidized activations and a push for higher-quality subscribers
- EchoStar’s ability to continue as a “going concern” depends on spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX
EchoStar’s Boost Mobile and Gen Mobile brands added about 16,000 customers in the first quarter of 2026, far fewer than the 150,000 it added in the year-ago quarter. The company ended Q1 2026 with 7.53 million wireless subscribers.
In a 10-Q Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing today, EchoStar said the decrease in wireless net additions primarily resulted from fewer government-subsidized subscriber activations and lower gross new wireless subscriber additions. Part of that is due to the company’s attempts to attract higher-quality subscribers.
EchoStar didn’t have a conference call with analysts and reporters today. At the end of the Q4 2025 earnings call in March, EchoStar President, CEO and Chairman Charlie Ergen said they didn’t plan to do a conference call sizing up their Q1 2025 performance, but that they probably will hold a call after the second quarter.
EchoStar’s legal battles
Last year, Boost Mobile started shifting from using its own 5G network to a “hybrid MVNO” using AT&T’s network and Dish’s 5G core. The company completed the transfer of wireless traffic from its 5G network to AT&T’s network on November 15, 2025, according to the 10-Q.
The abandonment of Dish’s 5G network is at the heart of a number of lawsuits involving tower companies and contractors that Dish quit paying last year. Dish continues to say that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forced it to sell spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX, which constitutes a “force majeure” event that tower and other companies dispute.
In today’s SEC filing, EchoStar said it intends to “vigorously” defend itself in suits brought by American Tower, Astound Business Solutions, Comcast Business Communications, Crown Castle, Diamond Towers, Harmoni Towers, SBA Communications and Zayo Group.
It’s not just tower and fiber providers that are affected. Fierce spoke with property owners across the country who were collecting rent from Dish for 5G antennas and related gear on their property. Dish stopped paying them as well, citing the “force majeure” argument. Now they’re stuck with unused 5G equipment on their properties – and it would cost them thousands of dollars to remove it themselves.
EchoStar’s future tied to spectrum sales
The spectrum deals involve an agreement to sell 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum to AT&T for $23 billion and two separate spectrum deals with SpaceX worth nearly $20 billion. In the 10-Q today, the company said until those deals close, there’s “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern.
Investors didn’t seem to be overly concerned. EchoStar’s shares were trading at $129.14 today, up more than 1% compared to its previous close, and its shares have risen dramatically over the past year. A year ago, EchoStar shares were trading around $20.
But there’s more. Once its deal with SpaceX closes, EchoStar will own a ~3% stake in SpaceX, which is expected to launch the largest IPO in history in June.
Both the AT&T and SpaceX spectrum transactions are pending before the FCC. The American Wireless Builders Coalition, backed by the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), is pressing the FCC to withhold approval of those spectrum transfers until EchoStar agrees to set aside money to pay its contractors and landlords.
WIA estimates infrastructure providers are owed somewhere in the ballpark of $7 billion to $10 billion for services rendered for Dish’s 5G network build.
More Q1 numbers
- EchoStar’s wireless churn rate for the three months ended March 31 was 2.77% compared to 2.83% for the same period in 2025.
- Wireless service revenue totaled $868 million, an increase of $59 million compared to the first quarter of 2025. The company attributed the increase in part to higher ARPU.
- Wireless ARPU was $38.59 in Q1 2026 versus $37.89 in Q1 2025. The increase in APRU primarily came from increased sales of value-added services.