DISH Wireless, the mobile service subsidiary of Echostar (NASDAQ: SATS), is now offering Voice over New Radio (VoNR), or 5G Voice, to over 200 million people nationwide. VoNR is delivered from DISH’s cloud-based, Open RAN 5G infrastructure, which operates as the Boost Wireless Network. The company also operates as an MVNO with prepaid brands, Boost Mobile that utilizes the T-Mobile and AT&T networks, and Gen Mobile that uses T-Mobile’s 5G/4G LTE networks.
The company claims that reaching 200 million POPs with VoNR demonstrates DISH’s ongoing 5G network expansion and reinforces its commitment to offer competitive connectivity services as the U.S.’s fourth national mobile network operator. In June 2023, the company did meet its deadline to provide 5G services to 70 percent of the U.S. population, Inside Towers reported. Its next deadline is June 2025, by which it must cover 75 percent of all Partial Economic Areas in the country.
Since its commercial launch in 2022, the Boost Wireless Network has grown steadily to about 20,000 cell sites at the end of 2023, Inside Towers reported. It is the world’s first standalone 5G Open RAN cloud-based network, with the largest commercial VoNR deployment to date, according to Inside Towers Intelligence.
To attract postpaid subscribers, the Boost Wireless Network supports the latest 5G smartphones including the iPhone 15 lineup, the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and Motorola Razr. The company said that in January 2024 alone, it launched seven new Boost Wireless Network-compatible devices for its retail wireless subscribers.
“As the 4th nationwide wireless network, we are bringing competition to the wireless industry and more choice to U.S. consumers,” said John Swieringa, EchoStar COO and president of Technology. “We are proud to now offer 5G voice to over 200 million Americans nationwide, as we continue to expand, optimize, meet milestones and advance the Boost Wireless Network buildout in alignment with our network development plan.”
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