Dish identifies more 5G markets, strikes deal with T-Mobile to resolve CDMA shutdown
Dish Network has identified dozens of 5G deployment markets it will reach before the June 2022 deadline and announced that it has reached a new agreement that will resolve issues related to T-Mobile’s upcoming CDMA network shutdown.
The deal with T-Mobile comes into play just ahead of T-Mobile’s revised plan to shut down its 3G CDMA network on March 31, 2022. Dish and T-Mobile have been bickering over the issue for months, with Dish complaining that the shutdown impacts a group of Sprint Boost Mobile customers it acquired from T-Mobile in 2020.
Speaking on Thursday during Dish’s fourth quarter earnings call, Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said the deal with T-Mobile is before the FCC and the US Department of Justice for review and approval. .
He didn’t detail the specific terms of the deal, but said it effectively means Dish will support T-Mobile’s March 31 CMDA shutdown. “We work together on communications, on handset supplies, on antennas,” he said.
However, AT&T will remain Dish’s primary MVNO partner. John Swieringa, president and chief operating officer of Dish Wireless, said Dish now charges a “substantial portion” of Boost mobile customers (as well as other brands, including Republic Wireless), on the AT&T network.
5G alive in Sin City
Las Vegas is the first launch market for Dish’s 5G network, where service is currently limited to friends and family. Dish intends to open access to others through its “Project Gene5is” registration platform.
“When it works, it works pretty well,” Ergen said of the company’s 5G network in Las Vegas. “We’re not ready to take football up. We have work to do… to optimize the network. But the technical challenge has been resolved for some of the essential things that we need to do.”
Dish is still working on enhanced 911 support, working with handset makers to support Dish frequencies, and still formulating a marketing plan for 5G, but “we’re moving at a very fast pace now,” said Ergen.
5G network extension
Dish also revealed that it will roll out its 5G network to more customers and in dozens of additional markets before the June 2022 deadline to cover 20% of the US population. This plan includes over 25 US metropolitan markets and over 100 small towns.
(Source: Dish Q4 2021 results presentation)
(Source: Dish Q4 2021 results presentation)
“This will be a year of execution” for Dish’s wireless business, said Erik Carlson, president and CEO of Dish. “We have the capital to execute our plans this year.”
Dish has firmly claimed that building its 5G network will cost $10 billion. Dish spent $1 billion on 5G-related investments in 2021 and plans to shell out another $2.5 billion in 2022.
FWA potential
While residential customers and private network agreements are the primary focus of Dish’s 5G mobile network, Ergen said he’s open to using his spectrum to support wireless access services. fixed wire (FWA).
“I think it’s a place to play,” Ergen said of Dish’s potential to support FWA, perhaps through spectrum sharing. Providing FWA in rural areas is a “logical starting point”, but it could also be used to support private networks, he added.
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—Jeff Baumgartner, Editor, Light Reading
