EchoStar Shares Jump 50% After Trump Reportedly Urges FCC Deal

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EchoStar’s stock soared as much as 50% on Monday, following a Bloomberg report late Friday that former U.S. President Donald Trump had intervened in talks over the company’s wireless spectrum licenses. Trump reportedly urged EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr to reach an agreement over the future of the company’s spectrum holdings.

The report said Trump met with Ergen on Thursday and called Carr, who then joined them at the White House. EchoStar has not commented publicly on the meeting.

The FCC began investigating EchoStar in May over concerns that it had not fulfilled its obligations to deploy 5G services, raising the possibility that its valuable wireless spectrum licenses could be revoked. The company has acknowledged missing about $500 million in interest payments and attributed some of the financial strain to regulatory uncertainty.

The market reacted swiftly to the news, with shares hitting an intraday high of $25.29 on Monday—up from $16.84 at Friday’s close. The surge marked a sharp reversal for EchoStar, whose stock had lost about 30% of its value since the FCC’s probe was disclosed.

Analysts at UBS noted in a Sunday briefing that the new developments could reduce the risk of EchoStar losing its airwaves and may renew interest in its spectrum assets. They cited the potential for partnerships or acquisitions from major wireless players such as T-Mobile US and AT&T, given the current scarcity of available spectrum.

Despite the rally, UBS maintained a “neutral” rating on the stock, citing ongoing regulatory uncertainty until a definitive resolution is reached.

Italy Probes Chinese AI Firm DeepSeek Over Misinformation Risks

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Italy’s antitrust and consumer protection agency AGCM announced Monday it has launched a formal investigation into Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek, alleging the company failed to clearly warn users about the potential for its chatbot to generate false or misleading information.

The regulator stated that DeepSeek’s platform does not provide “sufficiently clear, immediate and intelligible” alerts about the risk of AI-generated “hallucinations” — a term used in the AI field to describe instances when models produce inaccurate or completely fabricated information in response to user prompts.

AGCM is focusing on the consumer rights aspect, emphasizing the risk users might unknowingly rely on erroneous AI outputs due to insufficient warning or transparency.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation.

This marks the second run-in DeepSeek has had with Italian authorities this year. In February, the country’s data protection regulator ordered the startup to suspend access to its chatbot within Italy after the company failed to resolve concerns related to its privacy policy.

The probe highlights increasing regulatory scrutiny over generative AI models in Europe, particularly regarding transparency, data protection, and consumer rights.

Microsoft Strengthens Data Protection for European Cloud Clients

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Microsoft announced on Monday that it will ensure data from its European cloud customers remains within Europe, under the jurisdiction of European law, with operational oversight by local personnel and complete customer control.

This move comes amid growing concerns from European governments and companies over the risk of sensitive data being transferred outside the continent, particularly to the United States. The concerns have intensified calls for stricter data sovereignty, prompting American tech giants like Microsoft to adopt more transparent and compliant data governance policies.

As part of these efforts, Microsoft reaffirmed commitments made in April to strengthen safeguards as it scales its cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe. These include compliance with European legislation aimed at curbing the dominance of major technology platforms.

The company also disclosed that any remote access to systems handling European data by Microsoft engineers will be permitted and actively monitored in real-time by personnel based in Europe. This measure is designed to bolster customer trust and ensure alignment with European data protection standards.

Microsoft’s new sovereign private cloud, which supports these enhanced protections, is currently in preview phase and is expected to become generally available later this year.