UPDATE The FCC in a letter last week to DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) confirmed that the company has complied with its nationwide 5G network buildout requirements. The letter stated, “… based on our review of your submission, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau finds that DISH has met its band-specific 5G commitments and two of its three nationwide 5G commitments … .”
DISH committed to building a nationwide 5G broadband network by reaching specific milestones as part of its involvement in T-Mobile’s (NASDAQ: TMUS) deal to acquire Sprint. The ultimate goal was for DISH to become the fourth national MNO. Those commitments included achieving milestones in two major areas: band-specific 5G deployment, and nationwide 5G population coverage.
The FCC confirmed that DISH has met its band deployment commitments as of June 14, 2023, by building out its 600 MHz licenses in a core network, and utilizing AWS-4, AWS H Block licenses, and Lower 700 MHz E Block licenses, to offer 5G broadband service to at least 70 percent of the U.S. population.
The WTB said that DISH met the contingency for automatic, two-year extensions of its final construction milestones—until June 14, 2025—for each of its AWS-4, AWS H Block, and 700 MHz E Block licenses. The bureau said it will update its ULS licensing records to reflect these automatic extensions.
DISH also has met two of its three nationwide 5G commitments having “deploy[ed] a nationwide 5G network using DISH’s spectrum.” Its population coverage deadlines originally were established as: 20 percent by June 2022, 70 percent by June 2023 and 75 percent by June 2025. WTB says DISH met the second requirement “with at least 15,000 5G sites deployed, and at least 30 MHz of DISH’s downlink 5G spectrum averaged over all DISH 5G sites deployed nationwide.”
The letter went on to say, “the Bureau accepts DISH’s proposed drive test methodology for verifying compliance with the remaining nationwide 5G commitment.” This means that over the next six months, DISH must demonstrate that its spectrum is powering a nationwide 5G network where at least 70 percent of the U.S. population has access to average download speeds of 35 Mbps or more.
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