Over the last few years, DISH has slowly been expanding into being a wireless company. With the purchase of Boost Mobile, Dish is now the 4th largest wireless company in the United States. DISH has also been slowly buying up spectrum as it prepares to launch its own national 5G Network instead of relying on others to provide its network.
For now, though, DISH is relying mostly on T-Mobile spectrum to run their Boost Mobile service. As part of its deal with T-Mobile to buy Boost Mobile, DISH has the right to use T-Mobiel spectrum. Now the FCC has given DISH approval to start testing 5G on the T-Mobile spectrum for its customers.
This test will allow DISH to test 5G on the 13.5 MHz and 817-869 MHz bands. If all goes well with these 5G tests, DISH has the option to buy this spectrum from T-Mobile as part of its deal to buy Boost Mobile. DISH must complete its test by September 30th, 2023, according to the FCC.
The question now is will DISH wants this spectrum or not. DISH has been rapidly building out its own 5G network that won’t need to use T-Mobile’s network. If they are able to do this on their own, it will help DISH save money on their 5G network.
DISH has until July 1st, 2023, to devices if they want to buy T-Mobile’s spectrum or not, according to Fierce Wireless.