- The fallout from EchoStar’s decision to shut down its wireless network equates to about 500 jobs
- The company made it clear what led to the sale of its spectrum licenses and network shutdown: actions by the FCC
- An EchoStar spokesperson said there are no changes in store for the Boost Mobile brand, which will essentially become an MVNO using AT&T’s network
About 500 employees within EchoStar’s U.S. wireless network deployment and engineering groups were immediately let go after last week’s revelation that the company is selling some spectrum to AT&T and shutting down its wireless network operations.
EchoStar’s wireless network, initially known as Dish Wireless, was officially (more or less) rebranded to Boost Mobile last year, and that’s where the majority of its wireless network engineers worked.
“Due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) actions, the recent announcement of EchoStar selling spectrum licenses to AT&T significantly impacts the company’s 5G wireless network deployment unit,” the company said in a statement provided to Fierce.
“With elements of our network to be decommissioned over time, the company will eventually not house a wireless network deployment workforce. After thorough review of our business operations moving forward, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our network deployment workforce. The majority of impacted employees were notified on Thursday, August 28,” the company said.
The number of network employees being let go represents less than 4% of EchoStar’s total employee head count of 13,700.
Boost Mobile stores carry on
Retail stores are less affected than the network side of the house because Boost Mobile will still exist, just not as a fourth facilities-based carrier but as an MVNO, which is what Boost Mobile started out as many years ago.
The EchoStar spokesperson reiterated that there are no changes to the Boost Mobile brand or business.
Ironically, it’s the network that often received high marks from customers and industry analysts while the retail and marketing divisions struggled with branding and identity issues. Network engineers built most of the greenfield Open RAN network in record time, but the company couldn’t attract enough customers to use it, so it sat virtually empty.
The parent company last week said it will operate as a “hybrid MNO,” which, according to EchoStar’s SEC filing, is where Dish operates portions of the network infrastructure like the network core and billing and provisioning software. Its network partner AT&T will then provide base stations, radios, radio access network (RAN) software and spectrum frequencies.
Some departing Boost Mobile employees posted remarks on social media about getting laid off. They also posted about their time building the nation’s first nationwide Open RAN network, which started out as a narrowband IoT network at Dish. Clearly, they’re proud of their efforts, which earned the company plenty of accolades and “firsts” in the past few years.
EchoStar President and CEO Hamid Akhavan said the agreement to sell its 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum licenses to AT&T for about $23 billion will provide a financial base to retire debt and fund its growth initiatives, which include competing aggressively as a hybrid mobile network operator and establishing itself as a direct-to-device (D2D) satellite service provider.
“This is an important step toward resolving the FCC’s recent inquiries and demonstrates our commitment to continued innovation and success,” Akhavan said last week on LinkedIn.