Telco Daily: IRDM M&A, DTE/TMUS, Comcast, Satellites, TI/Poste

Research evidence excerpt

Telco Daily: IRDM M&A, DTE/TMUS, Comcast, Satellites, TI/Poste

RS spectrum (10MHz to 40MHz)

across the country that it uses to build localised 5G nodes in dense areas where it needs higher

data capacity. There is no indication that the CBRS spectrum would be made available to the

satellite operator and it is in any case limited and would need a regulatory approval to be

repurposed for satellite usage. So, the partnership seems more about using the Wifi hotspots of

Charter to complement the satellite mobile users, notably in dense areas where satellite

operators would have limited satellite broadband subscribers of their own (and hence limited

ability to provide their own Wi-fi connection). Charter could also provide backhaul service if

satellite operators want to deploy terrestrial infrastructure. Overall whilst this potential

partnership feeds the narrative that satellite companies could become bigger competitors to

the mobile operators beyond D2D services, it is unclear how that specific deal could represent a

material risk to MNOs. Separately we flag that at the recent AWS-3 satellite auction, despite

concerns that satellite operators could purchase a large amount of spectrum, in the end they

only spent c. $10m buying 4 licences in an auction that drew $3.5bn of spending for 198 licences

for an average price of $2.53/Mhz/pop with Verizon winning 80% of auction - see AWS -3

Spectrum Auction: Verizon pays up for efficiency – 29 June 2026. See Satellites Teach-in –

Communications and Earth Observation - 23 April 2026 for a review of the satellite market and

the threat we believe it represents for terrestrial players (marginal on mobile, relevant on

broadband). Source: Bloomberg, Handelsblatt (27 June 2026)

Comcast Corp.