Hughesnet is preparing to refer its own customers to rival Starlink after its parent company, EchoStar, reached a deal to sell radio spectrum to SpaceX.
The referral program is mentioned in a 10-Q SEC filing that Hughesnet released on Friday. The 66-page document includes a section about the EchoStar-SpaceX deal and what it means for Hughesnet’s business.
“The commercial agreements will also provide for a fee-based referral program that lets us refer existing HughesNet customers and new Starlink customers to SpaceX,” the document says, without elaborating.
EchoStar didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But company leadership has been signaling it’s preparing to transition away from selling satellite internet to consumers, citing the competition from SpaceX’s Starlink. In an earnings call earlier this month, EchoStar’s former CEO, Hamid Akhavan, noted that Hughesnet was shifting toward “enterprise” customers instead.
“Purely from the realization and understanding that the consumer connectivity to satellite is now highly competitive given SpaceX’s offerings and perhaps in the future other LEO [low-Earth orbit] offerings such as [Amazon’s] Kuiper,” he said.
Originally, Hughesnet planned to compete with Starlink by revising its satellite internet plans and launching a new Jupiter 3 satellite. But it was still bleeding subscribers. The 10-Q form says it had 783,000 broadband subscribers at the end of September, down from 912,000 a year ago.
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The 10-Q form also warns that Hughesnet is in danger of running out of cash, which the Space Intel Report first spotted. “We currently do not have the necessary cash on hand, projected future cash flows or committed financing to fund our obligations over the next twelve months, which raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern,” Hughesnet says.
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The same filing notes that EchoStar “may not provide additional liquidity” even after it completes the $17 billion radio spectrum deal with SpaceX, which needs approval from the FCC and Justice Department.
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About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
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I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how President Trump’s tariffs will affect the industry. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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