EchoStar expects to have $24 billion in cash after spectrum sales, debt payments

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(Reuters) -EchoStar said on Monday it expects to hold $24.1 billion in total cash after using proceeds from its spectrum license sales to repay debt, bolstering its balance sheet and supporting growth in wireless, satellite and technology sectors.

The satellite communications firm sold some wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T for $23 billion and SpaceX for about $17 billion after the Federal Communications Commission questioned EchoStar’s compliance with buildout extensions and use of mobile-satellite service spectrum.

The cash proceeds from the recent spectrum transactions will be $31.2 billion and the company will have a debt repayment of $11.4 billion, EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan said at the World Space Business Week in Paris.

It had cash in hand worth $4.33 billion, as of June 30.

The U.S. FCC said last week it would terminate its investigation into EchoStar over its slow deployment of 5G services in the country after AT&T, SpaceX deals.

“The hand that we were dealt by the FCC was one that there’s only one logical path that we were going to be able to take,” EchoStar Chair Charlie Ergen said at the same event.

Akhavan said a portion of the spectrum remains in house including in the AWS-3 band, which is deployed in all of the major national carriers.

EchoStar said it would focus to grow the Boost Mobile hybrid MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) by using AT&T’s network and integrating satellite connectivity through Starlink direct-to-cell service.

The transactions with AT&T and SpaceX are still subject to FCC approval.

EchoStar will continue to operate its satellite television service Dish TV and streaming TV platform Sling, while shifting its internet service Hughes toward enterprise customers.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)