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SpaceX Buys Wireless Spectrum from EchoStar in $17 Billion Deal

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
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SpaceX Buys Wireless Spectrum from EchoStar in $17 Billion Deal

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

Elon Musk's SpaceX said Monday it will buy wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for its Starlink satellite network for about $17 billion, the latest major deal crucial for 5G connectivity.

The companies also agreed to a deal that will enable EchoStar's Boost Mobile subscribers to access Starlink direct-to-cell service to extend satellite service to areas without service, Reuters reported.

Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO, SpaceX, said the deal will help the company "end mobile dead zones around the world... With exclusive spectrum, SpaceX will develop next-generation Starlink Direct to Cell satellites, which will have a step change in performance and enable us to enhance coverage for customers wherever they are in the world." The news sent shares of EchoStar surging nearly 22% in premarket trading. Shares of US wireless carriers AT&T and T-Mobile were down more than 5% and Verizon was down more than 4% in premarket trading.

SpaceX has launched more than 8,000 Starlink satellites since 2020, building a distributed network in low-Earth orbit which has seen demand from militaries, transportation firms and consumers in rural areas.

The deal comes months after the Federal Communications Commission questioned EchoStar's use of mobile-satellite service spectrum and raised concerns about whether it was meeting its obligations to deploy 5G in the country. The company in August sold some nationwide wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T for $23 billion. AT&T agreed to acquire 50 MHz of nationwide mid-band and low-band spectrum.

President Donald Trump

previously prodded EchoStar

and FCC Chair Brendan Carr to reach an amicable deal for the company's wireless spectrum licenses.

The FCC did not immediately comment.

EchoStar said it anticipates that the transaction with SpaceX and AT&T deal will resolve the FCC's inquiries.

SpaceX will pay up to $8.5 billion in cash and issue up to $8.5 billion in stock. SpaceX has also agreed to cover roughly $2 billion in interest payments on EchoStar's debt obligations through late 2027.

After the sale, EchoStar will continue operating its satellite television service Dish TV, streaming TV platform Sling, internet service Hughes and its Boost Mobile brand.

SpaceX had aggressively pressed the FCC to reallocate underused airwaves for satellite-to-phone service after alleging EchoStar failed to meet certain obligations.

In a letter to the FCC in April, SpaceX said EchoStar's spectrum in the 2 gigahertz band "remains ripe for sharing among next-generation satellite systems" and that the company has left "valuable mid-band spectrum chronically underused".

The deal with EchoStar will allow SpaceX to operate Starlink direct-to-cell services on frequencies it owns, rather than relying solely on those leased from mobile carriers like T-Mobile. In May, the FCC approved Verizon's $20 billion deal to acquire fiber-optic internet providers Frontier Communications. Verizon spent $52 billion to acquire and clear key spectrum in 2021.

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Technology

Apple, Google Send New Round of Cyber Threat Notifications to Users Around World

The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)
The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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Apple, Google Send New Round of Cyber Threat Notifications to Users Around World

The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)
The Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken September 24, 2025. (Reuters)

Apple and Google have sent a new round of cyber threat notifications to users around the world, the companies said this week, announcing their latest effort to insulate customers against surveillance threats.

Apple and the Alphabet-owned Google are two of several tech companies that regularly issue warnings to users when they determine they may have been targeted by state-backed hackers.

Apple said the warnings were issued on Dec. 2 but gave few further details about the alleged hacking activity and did not address questions about the number of users targeted or say who was thought to be conducting the surveillance.

Apple said that "to date we have notified users in over 150 countries in total."

Apple's statement follows Google's Dec. 3 announcement that it was warning all known users targeted using Intellexa spyware, which it said spanned "several hundred accounts across various countries, including Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Angola, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan."

Google said in its announcement that Intellexa, a cyber intelligence company that is sanctioned by the US government, was "evading restrictions and thriving."

Executives tied to Intellexa did not immediately return messages.

Previous waves of warnings have triggered headlines and prompted investigations by government bodies, including the European Union, whose senior officials have previously been targeted using spyware.

Threat notifications impose costs on cyber spies by alerting victims, said John Scott-Railton, a researcher with the Canadian digital watchdog group Citizen Lab.

He said they were "also often the first step in a string of investigations and discoveries that can lead to real accountability around spyware abuses."

Technology

AI Bubble to Be Short-lived, Rebound Stronger, NTT DATA Chief Says

FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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AI Bubble to Be Short-lived, Rebound Stronger, NTT DATA Chief Says

FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

A potential artificial intelligence bubble will deflate faster than past tech cycles but give way to an even stronger rebound as corporate adoption catches up with infrastructure spending, the head of Japanese IT company NTT DATA Inc. said.

Despite worries around supply chains, the direction of travel is clear, CEO Abhijit Dubey said in an interview with the Reuters Global Markets Forum.

"There is absolutely no doubt that in the medium- to long-term, AI is a massive secular trend," he said.

"Over the next 12 months, I think we're going to have a bit of a normalization ... It'll be a short-lived bubble, and (AI) will come out of it stronger."

With demand for compute still running ahead of supply, "supply chains are almost spoken for" over the next two to three years, he said. Pricing power is already tilting toward chipmakers and hyperscalers, mirroring their stretched valuations in public markets, he added.

AI has triggered the biggest technological shake-up since the advent of the internet, fueling trillions of dollars of investment and eye-watering equity gains. But it has caused shortages of memory chips, drawn regulatory scrutiny, and created growing unease over the future of work.

Dubey, who is also the firm's chief AI officer, said his company has begun rethinking recruitment strategies as AI reshapes labor markets.

"There will clearly be an impact ... Over a five- to 25-year horizon, there will likely be dislocation," he said. However, he added that NTT DATA continues to hire across locations.

Speakers at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York discussed how AI may upend work and job growth.

AI startup Writer Inc.'s CEO May Habib said customers are focused on slowing headcount growth.

"You close a customer, you get on the phone with the CEO to kick off the project, and it's like, 'Great, how soon can I whack 30% of my team?'," she said.

Still, a PwC survey of the global workforce released in November suggests the reality of generative AI usage has yet to match boardroom expectations.

Daily use of GenAI remains "significantly lower" than widely touted by executives, PwC said, even as workers with AI skills commanded an average wage premium of 56% — more than double last year's figure.

PwC also flagged a widening skills gap, with about half of non-managers reporting access to training resources, compared with roughly three-quarters of senior executives.

Technology

EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Meta over Use of AI in WhatsApp

FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
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EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Meta over Use of AI in WhatsApp

FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Brussels has opened a new antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in WhatsApp, the European Commission said on Thursday, reflecting rising scrutiny of Big Tech's use of generative AI.

The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, marks the latest action by European regulators against large technology firms as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.

The European Commission opened the investigation into "Meta's new policy regarding AI providers' access to WhatsApp" after the California-based company integrated its Meta AI system into the messaging service earlier this year.

A WhatsApp spokesperson said that "the claims are baseless", adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms "puts a strain on our systems that they were not designed to support".

"Even still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems."

Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp's interface since March 2025 across European markets.

Italy's antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp. The probe was expanded in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform.

The FT, citing officials, said that the EU probe will be conducted under traditional antitrust rules rather than the EU's Digital Markets Act, the bloc's landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon and Microsoft's cloud services for potential curbs.