DISH, best known as the satellite company that doesn’t come with NFL Sunday Ticket, is about to set up a 5G network — and also become the 4th-largest U.S. cell carrier — after the Sprint-T-Mobile merger.
The Department of Justice ruled DISH would purchase $5B in Sprint assets, including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and a small portion of Sprint’s spectrum for delivering 5G.
DISH basically becomes the new Sprint — and emerges as an unlikely victor in the Sprint-T-Mobile merger.
It was a long time coming for Dish
This may seem like a happy accident, but DISH’s CEO insists the company was working toward becoming a cell carrier. It had already been building up its own portion of 5G spectrum.
“These developments are the fulfillment of more than two decades’ worth of work and more than $21B in spectrum investments intended to transform DISH into a connectivity company,” CEO Charlie Ergen said in a press release.
The 5G future
DISH notified the FCC that by June 2023 the company will set up a 5G network capable of serving 70% of the U.S.
And for the business people skeptical of whether DirecTV’s little brother can compete with the established powers, Ergen noted that DISH succeeded in beating cable monopolies in the past.
“We will again serve customers by disrupting incumbents and their legacy networks,” he said, “this time with the nation’s first standalone 5G broadband network.”