from the cronyism,-corruption,-and-regulatory-capture dept
What if I told you the Trump FCC just leveraged a fake investigation into an American company to force it to sell valuable assets to companies and billionaires loyal to the administration? Well that’s exactly what’s happening with the news that Dish Network and Echostar are selling $17 billion in valuable spectrum to Elon Musk, after being repeatedly threatened by Trump’s lackey at the FCC, Brendan Carr.
As we’ve covered, the first Trump administration proposed creating a new Dish 5G wireless network to justify their rubber stamping of the competition-killing Sprint/T-Mobile merger. As I predicted back in 2019, the gambit was never serious and never going to work. It was designed to provide cover for harmful consolidation, letting Dish’s spectrum hoard assets appreciate as the company strung regulators along.
That task completed, the second administration is now forcing Dish to strip the project for parts and send its valuable assets to administration friends. AT&T recently scored $23 billion in valuable spectrum from Dish, with Musk now hoovering up much of the rest. This puts to bed the lie that the Trump administration was ever serious about Dish becoming a serious fourth wireless competitor.
The Sprint and T-Mobile merger was immeasurably harmful, effectively killing serious wireless price competition in the U.S. and resulting in more than 9,000 people losing their jobs.
Using Dish Network as a prop to justify this consolidation — then letting the biggest industry players hoover up the spectrum when the gambit inevitably failed — was always the play. Though Carr, when he first launched this “investigation” into Dish last May, did his best to pretend he was a serious adult regulator simply worried about rural ‘merica:
“As you know, buildout obligations are one way that the FCC can ensure that Americans,
including those living in rural communities, have a fair shot at next-generation connectivity.
After all, failure to meet buildout obligations leaves these communities behind.“
Carr’s primary focus has been in destroying whatever’s left of FCC corporate oversight and consumer protection authority, yet he’s curiously involved when it comes to things like pressuring CBS to kiss Trump’s ass, or forcing Dish to sell valuable assets to rich Trump donors. Keep in mind, Dish was technically meeting these requirements; they’d struck an extension with the FCC last year.
Carr’s bullying of Dish pissed off everybody across the political spectrum, from consumer groups incensed at the obvious corrupt cronyism (see this lawsuit against the FCC by Nina Burleigh and Frequency Forward), to “free market” Libertarian groups clearly pissed at the FCC bullying Dish into selling assets less than a year after the previous FCC had granted Dish an extension for its 5G network build (there are probably some lessons here in seeking dependable common cause with authoritarians).
Curiously, most of the media coverage I’ve seen on this Musk sale so far (from TechCrunch to Deadline to the LA Times) doesn’t mention any of the cronyism despite pretty broad bipartisan complaints about it.
And those that do mention it, like this Fast Company report, frame the FCC’s efforts as clinical and in good faith:
“The deal also has one other benefit for EchoStar—it’s another step in helping the company resolve concerns by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its wireless spectrum licenses.
Notably, SpaceX has long argued that EchoStar’s spectrum was being underutilized. Earlier this year, the FCC opened an investigation into the matter.
“EchoStar anticipates this transaction with SpaceX along with the previously announced spectrum sale will resolve the Federal Communications Commission’s inquiries,” EchoStar said in a statement.”
Again, neither the Trump administration — or its top donors like AT&T — ever wanted this Dish Network 5G gambit to succeed. Neither Trumpism nor Brendan Carr give a fleeting fuck about improving real world connectivity or market competition, and AT&T and Verizon (long GOP allies) never wanted serious wireless competition to materialize. And Dish CEO Charlie Ergen is happy to sell hugely appreciated spectrum assets hoarded over decades and head off into retirement.
A lot was made of Elon Musk’s falling out with Donald Trump. But when it comes to government policy, Musk continues to see unprecedented administration favors. The Trump administration has not only ended dozens of criminal and regulatory inquiries into dodgy Musk business practices, but the billionaire also continues to get showered with untold billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies and perks.
Filed Under: brendan carr, corruption, cronyism, fcc, free market, regulators, spectrum, wireless
Companies: dish, echostar, spacex, starlink
