Dish Says 5G Network Met 2023 FCC Milestones

5G sites. It said its 5G voice service that went live in 2022 in Las Vegas now covers more than 70 million Americans through Boost Mobile and Boost Infinite, and it will continue rolling out the service elsewhere. “Unfortunately, we do not expect the FCC to comment on the matter for the foreseeable future, if ever,” LightShed’s Walter Piecyk told investors. “We believe the FCC should accelerate and publicize its evaluation process,” he said: “We recognize that there is real work associated with the Wireless Bureau’s evaluation. However, the absence or delay of a public certification provides an incremental hurdle for Dish to raise needed capital. Conversely, if Dish did not build the network that was promised, the FCC should not hesitate to begin any process to reclaim and reauction the spectrum to those who would use it. While this would inevitably trigger litigation, why not start that process sooner rather than later?” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin noted Dish is offering 5G voice service, or voice over new radio (VoNR), in markets covering 20% of U.S. POPs. “This is a positive step for Dish’s network economics, as Dish customers have to date typically had to rely on the MVNOs [mobile virtual network operators] for all usage in markets lacking VoNR, because of the difficulty of hand offs between Dish’s 5G standalone network and the other carrier networks,” Chaplin said.