DISH Network moves a little closer to have everything they need to finally jumpstart their own 5G network off the ground. Their latest partnership is a big move to secure their future in wireless by leasing space on up to 20,000 American Tower Corp cellular towers.
Under this newly inked agreement, DISH will start their tower lease in 2022 and may also lease shared generators from the company. This is a pretty big deal since this lease will have the ability to use American Tower’s existing zoning, permitting and other legal hoops without the long wait time that preconstruction generally has.
Who Is American Tower Corp?
American Tower Corp is a worldwide provider of wireless communications infrastructure. Most notably known for their wireless towers in the US, they have 42,000+ tower sites nationwide with the existing infrastructure to support 5G.
DISH Network leasing tower space is a fairly common practice in the wireless space and from Verizon Wireless to AT&T, many wireless providers like HughesNet are doing it nowadays. Leasing is similar to renting and it appeals to many wireless companies because it allows them to exist without having to actually own or single handedly maintain the expensive infrastructure they need.
Other DISH Wireless Agreements
If you’ve been in tune with what DISH Network is doing to prepare themselves to deploy their 5G network, it’s no secret that they’re moving fast. Here’s other deals DISH has made to be the next big wireless provider in the United States:
- Signed a tower lease agreement for up to 20,000 communications sites from American Tower Corp
- Signed a long-term tower lease with SBA Communications Corp
- Struck a deal with Crown Castle to use up to 20,000 macro towers in conjunction with their fiber services
- Acquired Boost Mobile from T-Mobile for $1.4 billion dollars
- Acquired Ting Mobile
- Struck a deal with VMware for their telco cloud platform
- Signed a multiyear agreement with Altiostar to deliver their cloud native microservice OpenRAN software
- Made a deal with Fujitsu to supply the necessary radios that are needed to broadcast their 5G network from DISH’s leased cell towers
- Signed a multiyear agreement with Mavenir to deliver cloud-native OpenRAN software
DISH Network Acquired MVNO Boost Mobile
DISH Network has been officially in the wireless space with customers in hand since last year when they acquired prepaid Boost Mobile from T-Mobile, who acquired the company from Sprint in the Sprint T-Mobile merger. DISH has made some changes that have affected Boost Mobile customers like updating their plan options, but rest assured it’s all to benefit the customer. For the foreseeable future DISH Network plans to continue the Boost Mobile brand, and it’s retail stores, and service the same great way their 9 million subscribers expect to receive.
MVNO Republic Wireless Is Up Next
It’s not official yet, but DISH Network announced their plans to acquire another MVNO called Republic Wireless operating on the T-Mobile network. So far DISH’s plans with the company are to let Republic Wireless continue to operate as they are until DISH’s own 5G network is built and ready for subscribers. At that time DISH Network has stated that Republic Wireless will serve as a wholesale customer on DISH Network’s 5G Network.