Dish Network continues to amass infrastructure to support its forthcoming 5G network in the USA. It has now signed deals with seven towercos, covering 4,000 macro towers across the country, in addition to its initial agreements with Crown Castle and Vertical Bridge.
The new providers include Harmoni Towers (formerly Uniti Towers), Mobilitie, Parallel Infrastructure, Phoenix Towers International, Tillman Infrastructure, Tower Ventures and Vogue Towers. Dish has not revealed the size of its agreements with the individual partners, but they are all for macro sites alone and for existing locations, not new builds.
The deal with Crown Castle, signed last year, remains Dish’s largest, covering up to 20,000 macro sites as well as services and fiber. It was followed earlier this month by the Vertical Bridge agreement.
Dish says it is on course to reach its target of securing 15,000 sites, which it says is the number it needs to achieve the minimum coverage requirements specified by the FCC. Under these terms, it must build out a wireless network that covers 70% of the US population by June 2023.
The first 5G services are expected to launch in the second half of 2021. “Securing strong tower partners is a key component of any network expansion, and is tremendously important for Dish’s rapid roll-out of a new nationwide 5G network,” said Dave Mayo, EVP of network development at the operator, in a statement. “Each of these new tower partners will play an important role in bringing or network to life, connecting next generation wireless service to American consumers and enterprises.”
Another milestone for Dish is that it has gained the support of Qualcomm for its Band 70 spectrum. Qualcomm is always the kingmaker when it comes to device availability for unusual spectrum bands, and the chip provider has confirmed that its new X65 and X62 5G modems will support Band 70. The 3GPP formally approved Band 70 in 2016 – it includes Dish’s AWS-4, H Block and unpaired AWS-3 spectrum licences.
Separately, Dish is aiming for regulatory approval from the FCC to add its 12 GHz spectrum holdings to its 5G platform. The company has been lobbying the FCC to allow 5G to operate in 12 GHz, but this is opposed by satellite providers such as SpaceX and AT&T’s DirecTV. Dish, like DirecTV, currently uses 12 GHz for satellite TV. SpaceX claims 5G could interfere with its Starlink low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite system.