DISH Wireless stated that it wanted to come into the wireless world to be a disrupter and with its new tower deals, it’s proving to put its money where its mouth is.
There are not one, not two, but seven new tower deals that have been made by DISH Wireless and a slew of vendors. Adding more than 4,000 towers and other wireless infrastructure components to its network, DISH Wireless is working with Harmoni Towers, Mobilite, Parallel Infrastructure, Phoenix Tower International, Tillman Infrastructure, Tower Ventures, and Vogue Towers to spread 5G throughout the entire United States.
“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, DISH Executive Vice President of Network Development. “Each of these new tower partners will play an important role in bringing our network to life, connecting next-generation wireless service to American consumers and enterprises.”
DISH Wireless is working to become the fourth major wireless provider in the U.S. and is creating the first 5G standalone (SA) cloud-native Open-RAN network. On top of this ambitious effort, the company is doing it with a tight budget and an even tighter window. Despite doubt from the wireless community, DISH is continuing the course to create its 5G network within its budget of $10 billion. Should the company become unable to complete its network to a minimum of 75% of Americans by June 14, 20250, DISH Wireless will be forced to pay a $2.2 billion fine to the government from the FCC.
“We are excited to partner with DISH and look forward to being a part of their nationwide 5G network deployment. We believe our growing portfolio of newly constructed towers provides a unique opportunity to quickly and efficiently deliver the wireless infrastructure solutions DISH requires,” said Lawrence Gleason, President of Harmoni Towers.
The seven tower deals come shortly after rumors surrounding DISH Wireless and Fujitsu working together. Both companies came together as partners in 2020 including a somewhat recent purchase of radios from the vendor. This is important because the efforts of Fujitsu, Xilinx will provide O-RAN 5G radio units (O-RUs) solutions to a 5G nationwide project in the United States, widely speculated to be for the 5G network being built by DISH Wireless. On top of the various towers and radios, the vendors will be assisting with DISH Wireless by providing various services and installing 5G radios to help speed up DISH’s build-out.
All of the vendors completing deals appear to be eager to get to work and bring DISH’s 5G network to life. Taking advantage of mutually-beneficial partnerships as well as staying true to its greenfield design will allow DISH Wireless to complete its network quickly. Take a look at additional reactions from executives involved with the industry-changing deal:
“PTI is delighted to be a strategic partner to DISH as it executes its 5G connectivity buildout, and we are proud to be supporting DISH across the U.S. in the years to come,” said Dagan Kasavana, CEO of Phoenix Tower International (PTI)
“Mobilitie is proud to be partnering with DISH to support the aggressive buildout of its new national 5G network,” commented the President and CEO of Mobilitie, Christos Karmis. “With our national portfolio of infrastructure assets, Mobilitie’s top tier team, and our deep experience working with major US cities, we are looking forward to a long-term relationship supporting Dish’s state-of-the-art network and their ground-breaking progress as the industry’s newest national wireless carrier.”
“We are thrilled to have reached a meaningful partnership agreement with DISH and look forward to supporting DISH as it builds out its state-of-the-art 5G network in the years ahead,” remarked Yannis Macheras, CEO of Parallel Infrastructure.
“Rolling out a brand new nationwide network is an incredibly ambitious project and no easy feat. We are excited to bring our creativity and operational excellence to the table, helping the DISH team to be successful,” said Bill Hague, CEO of Tillman Infrastructure. “We at Tillman are proud that the work we have been doing, and continue to do as the leading builder of macro towers in the U.S., will be a part of this historic deployment,” added the VP of Business Development, Alexander Schwartz.
“Vogue Towers is excited to be a part of ‘5G for America’ with DISH. We have had a great experience to date working with DISH through our national MLA process and look forward to assisting with their network buildout as an infrastructure partner,” said Pat Troxell-Tant, CEO of Vogue.”
“Tower Ventures is excited to partner with DISH on its nationwide 5G buildout. DISH’s ambitious plans call for a nimble and creative infrastructure partner, and Tower Ventures is thus the perfect strategic partner. The professionalism of DISH’s staff has been evident from our first meetings, and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship,” said Craig Weiss, a leading executive at Tower Ventures.
Source:Yahoo! Finance
