Dish is confident in its plan to offer 5G in its first major cities by end of Q3 2021
Dish Network co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen underscored the company’s commitment to building a 5G wireless network on today’s Q4 2020 earnings call. He restated the intention to bring 5G online in its first major cities by the end of Q3 2021 — that’s the period running from July through September — and was bullish on Dish’s ability to boost the US’s somewhat dismal global position in terms of wireless network offerings.
Ergen spent several minutes on today’s call recapping what the company has done so far in its network-building effort. With its acquisition of Boost Mobile last year, it’s currently offering prepaid service as an MVNO on T-Mobile’s network, but it has also been accumulating its own spectrum to make the move to a full-fledged carrier. That’s a good sign for wireless competition in the US; with Sprint no longer available as a choice, Dish is positioned to step up as a fourth major carrier option. And it kind of has to in order to satisfy the conditions of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger.
To that end, Dish made low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum purchases last year, and it’s estimated to have spent $2 billion in the recent C-band auction. With access to these different kinds of spectrum, Dish has the pieces of the so-called 5G “layer cake” that will help it establish fast service with wide coverage.
“This isn’t our first rodeo,” Ergen said, stressing his confidence in the company’s ability to execute, despite the considerable risks. He didn’t stop there either; Ergen believes Dish can “help the United States actually start leading again in wireless.”
Maybe he’s right. There’s a big challenge ahead of Dish, but the company doesn’t face one of the challenges plaguing the major carriers right now: keeping 4G data flowing while adding 5G. This has led Verizon and AT&T, in particular, to turn to a technology called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, or DSS, with poor results. Sadly, the bar is quite low at the moment for US networks, which might help Dish get a running start.
Dish Network co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen underscored the company’s commitment to building a 5G wireless network on today’s Q4 2020 earnings call. He restated the intention to bring 5G online in its first major cities by the end of Q3 2021 — that’s the period running from July through…
Recent Posts
- Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio
- Intel and motherboard makers disagree on how to stabilize your crashing i9 CPU
- Microsoft’s ‘air gapped’ AI is a bot set up to process top-secret info
- Quordle today – hints and answers for Thursday, May 9 (game #836)
- NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Thursday, May 9 (game #67)
Archives
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011