- Dish Network's (NASDAQ:DISH) 5G plans could be taking a blow as Fox Business says a quiet FCC ruling means Dish improperly received $3.3B in discounts on licenses in the key 2015 AWS-3 spectrum auction.
- Shares dipped briefly but have made up almost all the lost ground, now -0.9%.
- Dish got the 25% discounts through the Designated Entity program, in which it claimed arms-length relationships between it and Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless, which bid on Dish's behalf.
- Now Charlie Gasparino says a non-public unanimous decision from the FCC says Dish was the primary owner of the two companies, and that the company will have to pay full cost for the licenses or pay back the government in a re-bid.
- Now-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was a notable critic of the discount in 2015, when he was just one of the commissioners, saying giving such a lucrative break to Dish made a "mockery" of a program intended to discount spectrum for small businesses.
- Previously: Wireless auction recap: Dish's plans (Jan. 31 2015)