The chairman of US satellite broadcaster Dish Network has conceded he could be forced to sell spectrum if regulatory delays continue to hold back the company’s commercial launch.
“We’re not suicidal,” Charlie Ergen told a US-based conference…
The chairman of US satellite broadcaster Dish Network has conceded he could be forced to sell spectrum if regulatory delays continue to hold back the company’s commercial launch.
“We’re not suicidal,” Charlie Ergen told a US-based conference yesterday, pointing to the responsibility the company has to its shareholders.
But Ergen insisted he would prefer to keep the assets, and he reiterated calls for the FCC to accelerate its decision on removing usage barriers on MSS frequencies. Dish is hoping the regulator will remove restrictions on the company’s 40MHz of spectrum in the 2GHz band, enabling it to provide stand-alone terrestrial services.
However, Ergen admitted that it was probably too late to build such a network from scratch. The company is now keener than ever to partner with another terrestrial operator to help build out a nationwide network.
According to Ergen, there are plenty of companies in the US that are interested in partnering with Dish. He did not name any potential partners, but said T-Mobile, MetroPCS, Sprint, Leap and Clearwire all needed additional spectrum. This list notably left out US mobile giants AT&T and Verizon, which Ergen claimed did not need additional frequencies, despite the operators calling for more capacity.
He also acknowledged that 40MHz of spectrum would not be enough for Dish to offer a competitive network in the long-term, with other players in the industry typically having in excess of 100MHz.
Ergen said that, with regulatory permission, his company was prepared to heavily invest in the project, after already ploughing in US$4bn, and with US$6bn currently on its balance sheet.
The FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking on the MSS restrictions was launched back in May.
LightSquared tries again
Another company still holding out for a landmark FCC decision is satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared.
The FCC is prohibiting LightSquared from launching commercially because the frequencies it was planning to use interfere with GPS technology.
But the company has recently submitted an amended business plan that it believes solves these issues. Essentially, the venture has proposed not using the parts of its spectrum that are subject to interference concerns, in return for sharing certain Federal frequencies that are reportedly used for weather balloons.
Further to this, the Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund, which owns the majority of LightSquared’s equity, won a key battle with the company’s lenders during a bankruptcy court hearing on Monday, 1 October. Harbinger was granted an extension to the exclusivity period for filing its own bankruptcy plan.
Previously extended to October, the company now has until 31 January 2013 to file a reorganisation strategy, and until 1 April to solicit acceptances for it.
A group of lenders representing US$1.08bn of debt in LightSquared LP, the venture’s main operating unit, had tried to stop the company from getting this extension. In court filings they have strongly criticised LightSquared’s “high risk approach”, and instead called for a “more conservative” strategy, which would involve vetting the venture’s assets on the market to realise their value.
Harbinger has said it is using the bankruptcy process to keep LightSquared’s creditors at bay, while it waits for a favourable regulatory decision on its planned network.
