Dish has announced some good news today in line with its FCC deadline.
The company announced today that it met the deadline two weeks early and as a result, are able to avoid making a voluntary $2.2 billion contribution. Now that this deadline has been met, the cable company covers 70% of the country with its 5G signals.
To recall, the agreement was that Dish would need to meet the FCC’s 5G rollout conditions so that it would be permitted to purchase Boost Mobile from the T-Mobile-Sprint merger. If Dish would not be able to meet this deadline, it would have to make a $2.2 billion voluntary donation to the regulatory agency.
Prior to today’s announcement, Dish was able to meet the FCC’s first condition last year. This required them to cover 20% of the country with 5G service before June 2022.
Now that the next condition has been met earlier than expected, Dish plans to start focusing on “monetizing the network through retail and enterprise growth.” Dish will file its FCC buildout report by July 14, 2023.
The next condition that Dish needs to meet is to cover 75% of the country with 5G by the end of June 2025. While the 5% may not seem too big compared to the previous conditions, it would still be a challenge for Dish to reach this in just 24 months. After all, it would need to provide coverage in rural areas that are not easily accessed by cellular signals.
Here’s hoping for the best for Dish.
Source: Phone Arena
