Dish Network 5G Launch Hits FCC Mandate

Dish Network launched 5G service in parts of 120 markets across the country, covering more than 20% of the U.S. population and hitting a government mandated June 14 coverage mark for the carrier’s spectrum licenses. Dish Network launched 5G service in parts of 120 markets across the country, covering more than 20% of the U.S. population and hitting a government mandated June 14 coverage mark for the carrier’s spectrum licenses. The initial service is using a combination of Dish Network’s AWS-4 (2 GHz), Lower 700 MHz E-Block, and AWS H-Block (1.9 GHz) spectrum licenses. That spectrum is supporting the carrier’s 5G service running through its virtualized 5G core. Customers can access the network through either a Samsung Galaxy S22 device or a NetGear 5G mobile hotspot device. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires license owners to meet specific coverage build out requirements based on a certain percentage of the U.S. population that those licenses cover. These rules vary based on different spectrum bands but are in place to ensure that a license owner is putting those licenses to work for the common good and not just sitting on those licenses to sell at a later date. Dish is also staring at a 70% population coverage obligation that hits in 2023. This will effectively require Dish to provide service in every U.S. city with a population greater than 500,000 people. Analysts noted that despite hitting the coverage requirement, service access will remain a challenge. “Despite this launch, Dish’s 5G service … remains very much a work in progress and far from a commercially attractive offering suitable for success in the mass market,” wrote Tammy Parker, principal technology analyst at GlobalData, in a research note. “Even in cities where Dish’s 5G wireless network has launched, it can be difficult finding a street address that is deemed to be qualified for service signup per the Project Genesis website.” Parker noted that market dynamics will make it difficult for Dish Network to hit its planned goal of up to 40 million wireless retail customers. “Nonetheless, now that Dish has launched service in numerous markets, the company finally has the opportunity to prove it has what it takes to become a viable wireless competitor,” she added. Dish Network has been cryptic in just how it plans to grow its customer base against established rivals like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile US. It has hinted that its fully virtualized 5G network will allow it to offer unique services in the market to both retail and enterprise customers that will differentiate it from competitors. “We’re building the first architecture that is truly optimized for the cloud. It promises tremendous advances, not just for human communications, but also for machine to machine, and of course for humans to control those machines,” Marc Rouanne, Dish Network’s EVP and chief network officer, said during the Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent show last year. Dish envisions a framework that will allow enterprises to define the experience with sub networks, or network slices, providing customization on speed, latency, data requirements, and other features. The nascent wireless carrier initially launched 5G service in parts of Las Vegas last month, which was about six months behind schedule. That launch was the first in the U.S. to rely exclusively on a cloud-native open radio access network (RAN) architecture, which Dish chair and co-founder Charlie Ergen noted was cause for the delay. “We’re six months behind where we thought we’d be, and it’s my fault. We just didn’t maybe anticipate that we would have to do as much on the technical side,” Ergen said during the company’s fourth-quarter of 2021 earnings call. “Ultimately, we found that we had to become the system integrator. It wasn’t a role that we thought we were going to take on. But with all the vendors, somebody’s got to be the middleman between them and be the glue that holds them together. We probably squandered some time, but that’s my fault.” The carrier is relying on dozens of vendors to provide its network components, including AWS, Cisco, Dell, Nokia, VMware, and Oracle. It added Samsung to the mix last month, though those components won’t start hitting the network until next year.