Commitments and Contingencies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies

Schedule of future maturities of long-term debt, finance lease and contractual obligations

	Payments due by period
	Total		2024		2025		2026		2027		2028		Thereafter
	(In thousands)
Long-term debt obligations	$	21,163,274	$	2,984,970	$	1,985,772	$	7,669,305	$	3,511,107	$	3,502,529	$	1,509,591
Interest expense on long-term debt		4,490,593		1,237,046		1,106,622		1,105,276		707,126		294,971		39,552
Finance lease obligations (1)		123,658		56,459		30,381		34,290		2,528		—		—
Interest expense on finance lease obligations (1)		16,969		9,614		5,011		2,298		46		—		—
Other long-term obligations (2)		13,406,816		2,886,529		2,198,229		1,913,876		1,158,515		1,013,256		4,236,411
Operating lease obligations (1)		5,399,528		423,347		463,276		495,472		495,786		454,612		3,067,035
Purchase obligations		2,086,259		2,052,898		27,268		5,756		337		—		—
Total	$	46,687,097	$	9,650,863	$	5,816,559	$	11,226,273	$	5,875,445	$	5,265,368	$	8,852,589

(1) See Note 8 for further information on leases.

(2) Represents minimum contractual commitments related to communication tower obligations, certain 5G Network Deployment commitments, obligations under the NSA with AT&T and the MNSA with T-Mobile, certain wireless device purchases and marketing obligations, radios, software and integration services and satellite related and other obligations.

Summary of Wireless Spectrum Licenses

	Carrying		Build-Out Deadlines		Expiration
	Amount		Interim	Final	Date
	(In thousands)
Owned:
DBS Licenses (1)	$	677,409
700 MHz Licenses (2)		711,871		June 14, 2025 (3)	June 2033
AWS-4 Licenses (2)		1,940,000		June 14, 2025 (3)	June 2033
H Block Licenses (2)		1,671,506		June 14, 2025 (4)	June 2033
600 MHz Licenses		6,213,335		June 14, 2025 (5)	June 2029
MVDDS Licenses (1)		24,000			July 2024
LMDS Licenses (1)		—			September 2028
28 GHz Licenses		2,883		October 2, 2029 (6)	October 2029
24 GHz Licenses		11,772		December 11, 2029 (6)	December 2029
37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz Licenses		202,533		June 4, 2030 (6)	June 2030
3550-3650 MHz Licenses		912,939		March 12, 2031 (6)	March 2031
3.7-3.98 GHz Licenses		2,969	July 23, 2029 (6)	July 23, 2033 (6)	July 2036
3.45–3.55 GHz Licenses		7,327,989	May 4, 2026 (6)	May 4, 2030 (6)	May 2037
1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz (2)		972			March 2026
AWS-3 (8)		5,618,930		October 2025 (7)	October 2025 (7)
Subtotal		25,319,108
Noncontrolling Investments:
SNR (9)		4,271,459		October 2025 (7)	October 2025 (7)
Capitalized Interest (10)		8,523,682
Total as of December 31, 2023	$	38,114,249

(1) The build-out deadlines for these licenses have been met.

(2) The interim build-out deadlines for these licenses are in the past.

(3) In a July 14, 2023 filing to the FCC, we certified that we were offering 5G broadband service to at least 70% of the United States population as of June 14, 2023, and certified to meeting other FCC related commitments. As a result of us providing 5G broadband service to over 50% of the U.S. population by June 14, 2023, the final build-out deadlines have been extended automatically to June 14, 2025. For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to at least 70% of the population in each Economic Area (which is a service area established by the FCC). On September 29, 2023, the FCC confirmed we have met all of our June 14, 2023 band-specific 5G deployment commitments, and two of our three nationwide 5G commitments. The single remaining 5G commitment, that at least 70% of the U.S. population has access to average download speeds equal to 35 Mbps, was confirmed using the drive test methodology agreed to and approved by the FCC and overseen by an independent monitor.

(4) In a July 14, 2023 filing to the FCC, we certified that we were offering 5G broadband service to at least 70% of the United States population as of June 14, 2023, and certified to meeting other FCC related commitments. As a result of us providing 5G broadband service to over 50% of the U.S. population by June 14, 2023, the final build-out deadlines have been extended automatically to June 14, 2025. For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to at least 75% of the population in each Economic Area (which is a service area established by the FCC). On September 29, 2023, the FCC confirmed we have met all of our June 14, 2023 band-specific 5G deployment commitments, and two of our three nationwide 5G commitments. The single remaining 5G commitment, that at least 70% of the U.S. population has access to average download speeds equal to 35 Mbps, was confirmed using the drive test methodology agreed to and approved by the FCC and overseen by an independent monitor.

(5) For these licenses, we must offer 5G broadband service to at least 75% of the population in each Partial Economic Area (which is a service area established by the FCC) by this date. We have also acquired certain additional 600 MHz licenses through private transactions. These licenses are currently subject to their original FCC buildout deadlines.

(6) There are a variety of build-out options and associated build-out metrics associated with these licenses.

(7) For these licenses, we must provide reliable signal coverage and offer service to at least 75% of the population of each license area by this date. The AWS-3 interim build-out requirement was not met and as a result, the AWS-3 expiration date and the AWS-3 final build-out requirement have been accelerated by two years (from October 2027 to October 2025) for each AWS-3 License area for which we did not meet the requirement.

(8) On October 12, 2023, the FCC consented to the sale of Northstar Manager’s ownership interests in Northstar Spectrum, which we purchased for a total of approximately $109 million. This purchase resulted in the elimination of all of our noncontrolling investment as it related to Northstar Spectrum as of the purchase date and we continue to consolidate the Northstar Entities as wholly-owned subsidiaries.

(9) Subsequent to December 31, 2023, the FCC consented to the sale of SNR Wireless Management’s ownership interests in SNR HoldCo, which was purchased by our parent’s direct wholly-owned subsidiary EchoStar SNR HoldCo L.L.C. for a total of approximately $442 million on February 16, 2024. This purchase resulted in the conversion of our outstanding redeemable noncontrolling interest as it relates to SNR HoldCo to noncontrolling interest, which is now held by our parent, EchoStar, as of the purchase date.

(10) See Note 2 for further information.