Trump urged EchoStar, FCC chair to cut a deal on spectrum -Bloomberg

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump urged EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ:SATS) Chairman Charlie Ergen and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to reach a deal over the fate of the company’s wireless spectrum licenses, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

EchoStar shares were up 52% in after-hours trading Friday on the report.

On Thursday, Trump met with Ergen and he telephoned Carr, who came to the White House to join the meeting, Bloomberg reported.

The White House and EchoStar declined to comment. The FCC did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment on Friday.

EchoStar has been trying to shield its cache of wireless spectrum licenses from the threat of revocation by the FCC.

U.S. satellite TV provider DirecTV terminated its agreement to acquire EchoStar’s satellite television business last year, which includes rival Dish TV, over a failed debt-exchange offer.

In May, the FCC told EchoStar it was investigating the company’s compliance obligations to provide 5G service in the U.S., questioning EchoStar’s buildout extension and mobile-satellite service.

EchoStar said the FCC disclosure was "harming EchoStar’s ongoing deployment and threaten its viability as a wireless provider as well as endanger the video and broadband satellite services upon which millions of consumers rely."

The company added "the possibility of reversing prior grants of authority related to spectrum for which EchoStar paid billions and in which it invested billions more, in contravention of long-standing commission precedent."

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EchoStar has previously disclosed that it missed roughly $500 million in interest payments, citing uncertainty around the ongoing FCC review.

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