Charlie Ergen, Elon Musk and Trump gearing up for high-stakes poker game | Latest Tech News
Telecom tycoon Charlie Ergen has famously completed stints as a skilled poker participant – and now he is likely to be angling for a desk with Elon Musk and Donald Trump, On The Money has realized.
According to top industry executives, the mercurial billionaire behind the Dish satellite tv for pc TV community is gearing up for a marathon of betting and bluffing with the world’s richest man on one hand and the most highly effective on the other.
The stakes may embrace energy, money – and probably a major slug of SpaceX, some industry insiders speculate.
Charlie Ergen, the billionaire behind the Dish satellite tv for pc TV community is gearing up for a marathon of betting and bluffing with the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and President Trump. Jack Forbes/NY Post Design
In one seat there’s Musk, who has made no secret of his need to take control of the gobs of wi-fi spectrum that Ergen has been hoarding for years. Musk believes it’s underutilized, and desires it to construct out his SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc service.
Then there’s Trump and his Federal Communications Commission chief, Brendan Carr. Sources say Carr agrees with Musk and has been urging Ergen to do one thing with his spectrum. That may imply utilizing it to construct out his Boost wi-fi service, or promoting the spectrum – or going through the implications, like a authorities takeover of the dear licenses.
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This is where issues may get attention-grabbing, say industry insiders like Peter Adderton, a veteran telecom govt who is now operating the MobileX service service. They notice that President Trump – Carr’s boss — is a dealmaker himself. He’s poised to squeeze funds out of Nvidia to do business in China. He holds a “golden share” in US Steel as a condition for its sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel. He organized for the US to take a 10% stake in Intel to prop up what he considers a important industry.
Trump’s next transfer is likely to be to get a stake in SpaceX utilizing Musk’s need — and some would say need — for spectrum to cut the federal government in on one of Musk’s crown jewels. In addition to its rocket business, SpaceX owns the spectrum-hungry Starlink, which connects rural America and other distant components of the world to the web.
“Elon doesn’t want to pay up for the spectrum and this type of deal makes it happen,” Adderton tells me.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 28 Starlink satellites earlier this month. Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock
Sounds far fetched? Maybe, but take into account: Trump’s relationship with Musk has been risky, but indicators are that it’s on the mend. Musk, meanwhile, has told people he doesn’t need to overpay Ergen for the spectrum he desires.
Trump has already called off Carr from seizing Ergen’s spectrum once so he may promote some of it to AT&T. Who says he couldn’t flip around, seize the AWS-4 and promote it to Elon in exchange for a 10% stake in SpaceX? Musk is likely to be prepared to swap a chunk of the company – which already feasts off authorities business – for a sweetheart spectrum deal.
Recall that Ergen, meanwhile, owns EchoStar, which controls both Dish and Boost. He’s legendary for his savvy maneuvering. Many in the industry – and Carr himself – would say that’s what Ergen has been doing with Boost – slowly strolling his promised buildout to gain an edge and perhaps pump up the price for unused spectrum.
Nothing improper with that, but when the US authorities blessed the Sprint/T-Mobile merger during Trump’s first time period, it was promised that Boost would grow to be big enough to create competitors and decrease prices for shoppers.
Carr, for one, believes Boost isn’t close to competing with heavy hitters Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Accordingly, sources say he has been telling Ergen to either use it or lose it. Under law the FCC may take it and promote it at public sale.
Ergen determined to promote at least some of it, slightly than construct. Yet, even with Ergen’s latest deal to promote a chunk of his spectrum held by EchoStar to AT&T – a $23 billion deal announced this week – he’s still sitting on a bunch, including the stuff recognized as AWS-4 that Musk desires for Starlink.
Ergen and the Trump administration had no remark.
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