Push for a Fourth National Wireless Network Is on Life Support Following AT&T/EchoStar
Kristian Stout, ICLE Director of Innovation Policy, was quoted in this Communications Daily article on the AT&T’s $23 billion purchase of EchoStar’s spectrum and its implications for competition, rural access, and the fading prospect of a fourth national wireless carrier. Read the full article here.
EchoStar’s decision to sell much of its spectrum “really just underscores how difficult it is to stand up a viable, facilities-based competitor in this market,” said Kristian Stout, innovation policy director for the International Center for Law & Economics. “Letting Dish monetize the spectrum acknowledges reality — it is better to have three robust national carriers investing heavily than to prop up an anemic competitor that can’t get to scale.”