-$16.6 billion. That was EchoStar's operating loss in the comparable reported period. In the latest period, the company posted $392.8 million of operating income, even though revenue moved only from $3.6 billion to $3.7 billion.
That looks like a sharp change in reported operating income until the footnote enters the room. The improvement came largely from depreciation disappearing after EchoStar impaired parts of its 5G network, not from a comparable jump in sales. Cash fell 44.7% to $1.3 billion, which gives the headline profit a less tidy companion.
EchoStar said the 5G assets were impaired in September 2025 and that the company began abandoning and decommissioning portions of the network the month before. With those assets no longer producing depreciation expense, depreciation and amortization fell to $50 million, down $55 million, or 52.4%, from the comparable period.
The accounting change matters because operating income is now being measured after a smaller non-cash charge. It does not answer how much cash the business is generating, and the balance sheet supplied one blunt answer: less cash than before. EchoStar's 2025 annual results also showed a negative 118.1% operating margin, a reminder that the latest swing sits inside a business that has recently absorbed a very large network reset.
The revenue line was hardly sprinting. EchoStar attributed one decrease to lower hardware sales to international enterprise customers, while cost of services fell 9.5% to $102 million.
"The decrease was primarily attributable to lower hardware sales to our international enterprise customers. Cost of services. “Cost of services” totaled $102 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026, a decrease of $11 million, or 9.5%, as compared to 2025."
EchoStar 10-Q, May 11, 2026
That is a useful split-screen: one part of the business sold less hardware, while a lower cost line helped the reported result. EchoStar does not disclose a single reason for the modest increase in total revenue in the supplied comparison.
There is also spending still attached to the new network structure. Management said some 2026 capital expenditures are expected to come from the Hybrid MNO network and subscriber equipment.
"Certain of our capital expenditures for 2026 are expected to be driven by costs associated with our Hybrid MNO network and subscriber premises equipment."
EchoStar 10-Q, May 11, 2026
The company has transitioned to a Hybrid MNO, operating its 5G network core from September 2025 onward. That leaves a specific accounting and cash question in the next report: how much capital spending EchoStar records for the Hybrid MNO and subscriber equipment, alongside the cash balance.
The latest numbers therefore resist a simple label. Operating income recovered from a massive loss, but revenue barely grew, cash shrank, and the network still requires investment. The profit swing is real in the income statement, while the network transition is still underway.
EchoStar's latest 10-Q pairs a $392.8 million operating profit with lower depreciation after a 5G network impairment and $1.3 billion of cash.