Dish 5G Coverage Available in Over 70 Percent of the U.S.
Dish 5G Coverage Available in Over 70 Percent of the U.S.
June 21, 2023
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Dish Wireless met its FCC buildout requirement when it recently announced a major milestone, reaching over 70 percent coverage with its 5G network in the United States, accounting for approximately 240 million people. Dish is not only building a nationwide network from scratch, but also doing it with a first-of-its-kind 5G Standalone (SA) network based on open Radio Access Network (RAN).
As part of the deal that enabled T-Mobile to acquire Sprint, Dish was required to cover 70% of the U.S. with its 5G network by June 2023. By accomplishing this, Dish said it completed all other FCC commitments for June 2023 including the launch of over 15,000 5G sites.
“Our teams have worked tirelessly for years, and this achievement is a testament to their dedication and commitment as we grow the world’s first and only 5G cloud-native Open RAN network,” said Dish Wireless Executive Vice President of Network Development Dave Mayo. “We appreciate the continued support and efforts of our partners as Dish continues to lead the industry in Open RAN deployment.”
The next milestone Dish wants to reach in its 5G network pursuit is covering 75 percent of each of its spectrum license areas with 5G by June 2025. To do this, analysts predict Dish will need an additional 15,000 cell towers and an additional $2-3 billion in funding to reach that goal.
Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, believes this to be a difficult hurdle that could require Dish to extend that buildout deadline. “That is the tough one,” stated Entner. “I absolutely expect Dish to ask the FCC for more time to meet the 2025 deadline and if they are smart, they’ll ask for an extension that is later than its mandate not to sell certain spectrum.”
For now, Dish’s 70 percent coverage milestone was one met with a lot of celebration at the operator and time will tell when that next proverbial champagne bottle is popped.