NATE UNITE 2022
DISH Network has deployed 148 towers in Las Vegas, which is intended to be the first market to go online in its cloud-based 5G Open RAN network. But a lack of Enhanced 911 (E911), a system that automatically provides a caller’s location to 911 dispatchers, is holding it up from moving forward, Charlie Ergen, Founder and Chairman of DISH Networks, said. He and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr were interviewed by Jennifer Fritzsche, Head of North American Telecom and Digital Infrastructure at Greenhill & Co. before a luncheon audience at NATE UNITE, yesterday, in Las Vegas.
“We have Las Vegas pretty well covered. Today, we’re ready for beta testing, but we can’t commercially launch until we get an E911 through the system, which has turned out to be a little harder than we thought,” Ergen said. E911 is only indirectly under Ergen’s control because he is depending on a third-party vendor that has to work with the other carriers to implement the database necessary for the system. Ergen said “it shouldn’t take months.”
Even with the E911 hiccup, DISH is on track to meet its commitment to the FCC to cover 20 percent of the population by June of this year.
Tuesday was one of the most memorable days in Ergen’s life, he said, because he got to experience his network in operation. “This network is really different. It isn’t technology that has been done in Singapore, Japan, or Korea, or even China,” he said.
“This is bringing back U.S. leadership, and I’m proud of our people.” Ergen jokingly asked the tower climbers for a little extra love when they are deploying a DISH antenna.
Ergen set out 15 years ago to change the way that people communicate, Ergen said, and it began accumulating spectrum, spending a total of $30 billion so far.
“But the fact is, whether it be regulators, whether it be the Congress, whether it be bankers or our investors, they’ve given us the benefit of the doubt, and it’s our job to take that confidence and make good on our commitment,” he said.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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