Dish Network has backed out of plans to purchase low-band spectrum from T-Mobile US due to a lack of funding and continues to lose both executives and slash jobs.

EchoStar, which took over control of Dish Network at the beginning of the year in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing stated it has been unable to secure the funding necessary to acquire 14 megahertz of nationwide spectrum in the 800 MHz band for $3.6 billion that T-Mobile was required to offer to Dish Network as part of T-Mobile gaining approval for its purchase of Sprint. Dish Network last October paid T-Mobile US a non-refundable $100 million payment to extend the decision deadline on the spectrum purchase to April 1, when it might have more solid fiscal footing.

“Throughout 2023, we were actively involved in negotiations with counterparties to obtain the financing necessary to exercise the 800 MHz purchase option,” EchoStar noted in its filing. “However, we have been unsuccessful in our attempts to reach terms for a definitive financing agreement. Due to the relatively short time remaining before the 800 MHz purchase option’s expiration on April 1, 2024, we no longer believe it is probable that we will exercise the option. Therefore, we reduced the probability weighted value of the spectrum option to zero.”

Dish Network initially held an option to back out of the purchase and pay a $72 million breakup fee. EchoStar took a $1.6 billion non-cash impairment during the fourth quarter of 2023 on the move, which took into account taking that purchasing option down to zero.

Dish Network continues to control a vast cache of spectrum assets, including a combination of AWS-4 (2 GHz), Lower 700 MHz E-Block and AWS H-Block (1.9 GHz) spectrum licenses that’s powering its cloud-native 5G network and spectrum ranging from 1.9 GHz up to 47 GHz that it transferred to a recently formed subsidiary.

Dish Network also continues to bleed executives. The latest to jump ship included Michael Kelly, who most recently served as group president of retail wireless at Dish Network, and Sidd Chenumolu, who was VP of technology development at the carrier.

Hamid Akhavan, who recently added the CEO role for Dish Network following the departure of former Dish Network CEO Erik Carlson late last year, said he would be taking on Kelly’s duties in the near term as Dish looks for a permanent replacement.

The latest executive departures followed the loss last year of longtime network executive Dave Mayo, the abrupt resignation of COO Narayan Iyengar and the loss of chief marketing officer Stephen Bye early last year.

Dish Network late last month also filed plans with its home state of Colorado to cut 53 jobs. The move comes just over a month after it filed plans to cut 157 positions and three months after it filed plans to cut 499 jobs in the state. The total cuts amount to just under 4% of EchoStar’s approximately 15,000 employees.