One of the many challenges on Dish’s path to its full 5G vision is a new dispute about some of its spectrum. The FCC recently ruled that Dish improperly received $3.3bn in discounts on spectrum licences in the AWS-3 auction, which closed in early 2015, and according to US media reports, the company risks having to give up that spectrum. In a 5G race which revolves so heavily around ownership of midband spectrum – a rare commodity in the USA, at least before the C-band auction next month – this would be a blow. The AWS-3 spectrum sits in the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz ranges. However, it is not part of Dish’s near term 5G deployment plan,…