Warren, Casar Warn DOJ, FCC of Potential Competition, Cost Issues Involving AT&T and SpaceX Deals With EchoStar
AT&T and SpaceX’s proposed acquisitions of Echostar spectrum raise antitrust concerns, may not meet federal telecommunications law requirements
Deal threatens to raise cell phone costs and worsen service for consumers by further consolidating cellular market
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) wrote to Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division head Abigail Slater and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, raising concerns about AT&T’s and SpaceX’s plans to acquire wireless spectrum licenses from telecommunications company EchoStar. The lawmakers urged the respective agencies to closely scrutinize the proposed deals and block them if they violate antitrust laws or do not serve “the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” as required by federal telecommunications law.
“The AT&T deal – worth $23 billion – will effectively strengthen the market power of the three major wireless carriers in the U.S., and ‘close the books’ on the possibility of the emergence of an additional major competitor,” wrote the lawmakers. “The SpaceX deal – worth $17 billion – would help Musk expand SpaceX’s Starlink capacity and provide an opportunity for the company to gain ‘firepower’ in the satellite communications industry that competitors will struggle to compete with.”
In August, AT&T announced a multi-billion-dollar deal to acquire certain wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar and provide wireless service for EchoStar’s Boost Mobile. The deal threatens to slash competition in the network carriers’ market by reducing the number of major network carriers in the U.S., entrenching the dominance of the big three carriers. In addition to raising prices, further concentration will likely worsen services: consumers pay on average two to three times more for their monthly phone bills in markets with only three network operators compared to markets with four network operators, and download speeds are half as fast in markets with three network operators compared to four.
“AT&T’s acquisition of EchoStar’s spectrum will entrench the three main network providers’ dominance and limit choices for almost every home in the U.S., harming both consumers and competition within the wireless industry,” wrote the lawmakers.
Just weeks after the AT&T-EchoStar deal was announced, EchoStar announced an additional sale of spectrum to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. SpaceX’s potential acquisition of these spectrum licenses raises fresh competition concerns within the satellite industry, as it could enable SpaceX to embed itself in the mobile carrier market while not directly challenging the dominant mobile carriers.
The SpaceX-EchoStar deal also raises significant potential corruption concerns related to the influence of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in the Trump administration. In addition to his massive donations to the Trump campaign and his previous role as senior adviser and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Trump administration, Elon Musk also reportedly “built a public alliance” around his company’s policy goals with Chairman Carr in the year leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
“The circumstances around the FCC investigation of EchoStar and the close relationship of Mr. Musk to the Trump Administration and to key Trump Administration officials make it particularly important that the FCC and DOJ engage in a robust, independent, and impartial review prior to approving any sale of EchoStar spectrum to SpaceX in order to avoid the appearance of favoritism or impropriety,” wrote the lawmakers.
The possible anticompetitive effects of these proposed deals and the resulting consumer harms merit close scrutiny by the regulators. The DOJ has a responsibility to enforce federal antitrust laws and should challenge the deals if it finds they could substantially lessen competition in violation of the law. The FCC is required to review telecommunications transactions and approve only transactions that serve “the public interest, convenience, and necessity” — a standard these deals may not meet. The lawmakers encouraged the FCC to reject the proposed deals if AT&T and SpaceX are unable to prove that their respective deals would affirmatively benefit the public.
Senator Warren raised similar concerns about a related telecommunications deal in the first Trump Administration. In 2020, T-Mobile merged with Sprint, decreasing the number of major cell carriers in the U.S. and greatly reducing competition. The merger, which needed the first Trump administration’s approval, also raised ethics concerns as T-Mobile executives aggressively courted President Trump. Senator Warren published an investigation revealing that T-Mobile spent nearly $200,000 at the President’s business prior to the approval of the merger, and Senator Warren opposed the merger over competition concerns.
The Trump administration ultimately approved the deal, and consumers have paid the price: cell phone costs have increased since the merger, and the industry has consolidated even further. T-Mobile’s 2025 acquisition of UScellular prompted DOJ to warn that “we stand at a pivotal moment for the wireless industry” after “a decades-long trend toward consolidation-by-acquisition” with the industry dominated by an “oligopoly.”
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