The year closed with the satellite industry publishing its own report card. On December 31 SpaceX released its third annual Starlink Progress Report, a 75-page account of a breakout year: a completed first-generation direct-to-cell constellation of more than 650 satellites, service in 22 countries across 6 continents, more than 6 million customers, and 27 mobile operator partnerships worldwide. Days earlier, coverage of the FCC's year-end space policy review detailed the mechanics behind the agency's move to higher direct-to-cell power levels, including revisions to the legacy power flux density limits written for a different satellite era. With the FCC's Upper C-band auction rulemaking heading toward a January 5 comment deadline, the quiet holiday week was really a starting line for 2026.
The week EchoStar chose retreat. On August 26 AT&T agreed to acquire roughly 50 MHz of nationwide spectrum from EchoStar, about 30 MHz at 3.45 GHz and 20 MHz at 600 MHz, for approximately 23 billion dollars in cash, sending EchoStar shares up 70 percent and beginning the dismantling of the fourth national network. As part of the arrangement EchoStar announced a hybrid mobile network operator agreement making AT&T the primary network partner for Boost Mobile, and framed the transactions as steps toward resolving the FCC inquiries that had put its licenses at risk. Meanwhile the FCC's satellite broadband spectrum-sharing proceeding closed its reply comment window on August 27, advancing the rules rewrite that will govern how constellations share the sky.