AT&T closed the $23bn EchoStar spectrum purchase on Tuesday, and drew $14.5bn of term loans the same day
Twenty-three billion dollars in cash, and $14.5 billion of it borrowed on the day.
AT&T told the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that AT&T Mobility II LLC, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary, had completed the closing of a License Purchase Agreement with EchoStar Corporation and certain EchoStar subsidiaries. The agreement was signed on August 25, 2025 and disclosed the following day. What closed on July 28 is the purchase of licences in the 600 MHz band and in the 3.45 GHz band, for total cash consideration the filing puts at approximately $23 billion.
The financing sits in the same item of the same filing. On July 28 AT&T drew $11.5 billion on its two-year term loan facility and $3.0 billion on its 364-day term loan facility. Both are components of a $17.5 billion Delayed Draw Term Loan Credit Agreement with Bank of America, N.A. as agent, the terms of which the company disclosed in a report filed on November 3, 2025. The filing says the drawn money finances a portion of the purchase price and the balance was paid in cash. It also says the term loan has customary provisions on default and acceleration, which is the standard formulation and not a statement about the company's condition.
Set the two figures side by side and the cash component is about $8.5 billion.
The press release furnished with the report describes what was bought in bandwidth rather than in dollars. It puts the addition at approximately 50 MHz, split between roughly 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and roughly 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum, covering, in the company's words, virtually every market across the United States. Low-band travels further and penetrates buildings better. Mid-band carries more data over shorter distances. A carrier that lacked one of them has a gap that shows up as capacity, and AT&T says the purchase closes part of that gap and improves the uplink side of its network.
One line in the release is there for shareholders rather than for customers. AT&T reiterates the financial outlook and the capital allocation plan it published with its second-quarter 2026 earnings release, which is the company saying that a purchase of this size does not change the guidance it has already given.
