DISH Network has slowly been building out a 5G network to offer high-speed wireless internet. Now DISH plans to speed this up by securing $2 billion in new funding to help its nationwide 5G buildout.
DISH is already the 4th largest wireless provider with its purchase of Boost Mobile. Now though DISH wants its own 5G network so it won’t have to rely on others to support wireless service.
This growth comes as Dish now has around 8.01 million retail wireless subscribers for its Boost Mobile service.
If Dish hopes they will be able to cover 70% of the U.S. population with their 5G network by June 14th, or they will risk losing their spectrum licenses as part of their deal with the FCC. Moreover, the company must cover 75% of the country by 2025, based on their agreements.
DISH recently got permission to test some more bands for 5G.
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.