DISH lit up a new 5G cellular network in more than 120 cities on June 14, including Grand Junction and Pueblo, meeting an early target federal regulators had set for the construction of the nation’s fourth wireless network.
The big three carriers — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — have built their 5G networks on top of existing and proprietary 4G networks, which in turn were built on top of 3G networks. DISH, by contrast, is building a 5G network from scratch, using something called Open Radio Access Networks or OPEN-RAN. That approach is software-focused, cloud-based and flexible in terms of using technologies from outside partners.
“They are leveraging the desire of multiple vendors to participate in the only new national wireless network being built. Their vendors are contributing in the form of development and assets,” said Roy Chua, principal at AvidThink, an independent telecom and technology research firm in San Jose, Calif.
Some people were skeptical DISH could even reach 20% coverage on schedule, but the company did, said Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, in a podcast on Monday. “As I sat there, I knew that we had everything to be a Fortune 500 company 20 minutes after that launch,” Ergen said. DISH saw the opportunity it had been waiting for, one where it could restore a fourth national cellular network, alleviate regulatory concerns, and leverage that to get a good deal from T-Mobile and Sprint on the assets that regulators wanted spun off.
Ergen acknowledged that the patience of stock investors in DISH has been severely tested waiting for a payoff from the wireless spectrum investments. The company’s stock has moved up and down over the years, but it is now back down to where it was two decades ago after accounting for adjustments. “I believe we have passed the crux,” Ergen told analysts in Vegas. “I feel very confident we have everything we need to become a Fortune 100 company. We have work to do, and we aren’t spiking the football. We have several years of deployment. We have to monetize.”
“With DISH at the helm, it could be a chance for Denver to become a new center for mobile innovation. There is that possibility. Denver has a lot of talent already from the telco market,” Chua said.A 5G cellular tower for Dish Wireless’ Project Genesis stands next to a taller analog television tower in Denver, Thursday, June 23, 2022.DISH Wireless has about 8.2 million Boost Mobile customers and is targeting about four times that many once it builds out Project Genesis.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.