After its relationship with T-Mobile went south earlier this year, DISH Network has signed a Network Services Agreement (NSA) with AT&T, making the carrier the primary network services partner for DISH mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) customers. The agreement will affect customers of DISH’s retail wireless brands, including Boost Mobile, Ting Mobile and Republic Wireless, in addition to the new DISH 5G network.
DISH agreed to pay AT&T at least $5 billion over the course of the ten-year term deal. When the agreement ends, DISH will be able to continue to use AT&T’s network service to support MVNO customers for up to two years, according to Cowen Research.
“The new deal seems to reflect some of the frustration DISH has shared of late with T-Mobile, including T-Mobile’s planned shutdown of Sprint’s 3G CDMA network, as well as their bickering over the fate of the 12 GHz band,” Cowen analysts said in a report.
The AT&T agreement accelerates DISH’s expansion of retail wireless distribution to rural markets where DISH provides satellite TV services, according to DISH, and AT&T will also provide transport and roaming services to support DISH’s 5G network.
DISH said it is committed to providing competition in the wireless market as the nation’s fourth facilities-based carrier and will build out a cloud-native, OpenRAN-based 5G network reaching over 70 percent of the population by 2023.
“Teaming with AT&T on this long-term partnership will allow us to better compete in the retail wireless market and quickly respond to changes in our customers’ evolving connectivity needs as we build our own first-of-its kind 5G network,” said John Swieringa, DISH COO and Group President of Retail Wireless. “The agreement provides enhanced coverage and service for our Boost, Ting and Republic customers, giving them access to the best connectivity on the market today via voice, messaging, data and nationwide roaming on AT&T’s vast network, as well as DISH’s 5G network.”
“Teaming with DISH on this agreement is not only a testament to the strength of our network, but it further validates the investments we’ve made in our fiber and wireless infrastructure,” said Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO, AT&T Consumer. “We welcome DISH wireless and its customers to the nation’s largest and best wireless network for all of their streaming, data and roaming needs.”
The agreement with AT&T came after DISH and T-Mobile began openly arguing in January, because T-Mobile announced it would shut down its 3G CDMA network in 2022, which hosts users of Boost Mobile and Ting Mobile, Inside Towers reported. DISH purchased Boost from T-Mobile and Ting from Sprint as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in order to receive its approval of the Sprint-T-Mobile merger. DISH currently operates them as an MVNO using the T-Mobile/Sprint network.
DISH accused T-Mobile of being anticompetitive and said its plan to turn off the Sprint CDMA network came “significantly sooner” than the three-year migration timeline it previously announced.
Moreover, the deal represents a warming of relations between AT&T and DISH, which could pay dividends on both sides, Cowen said, perhaps leading to a DirecTV (DTV)/DISH satellite TV merger. The agreement allows AT&T to use a portion of DISH’s spectrum in various markets to help support DISH customers on AT&T’s network.
“The deal also potentially further aligns AT&T/DISH, which could down the road, help AT&T on two fronts: 1) potentially getting access to DISH’s trove of spectrum at favorable terms as we note the DISH 8K states it “provides an avenue for AT&T to deploy portions of DISH’s spectrum to support DISH customers on the AT&T network” and 2) improving the two companies’ relationship so that in the future the two are better positioned to negotiate a deal to merge DTV and Dish’s respective satellite TV businesses,” the Cowen report said.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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