A massive deal between DISH Wireless and American Tower will provide the latest major name in wireless with access to as many as 20,000 sites throughout the United States. American Tower is looking to grow organically in the United States and DISH Wireless is continuing to expand its reach as it builds the nation’s first nationwide cloud-native standalone (SA) 5G network. The move works for both parties long term with executives on each side advocating the agreement.
“With the American Tower agreement, DISH now has the complete, robust infrastructure portfolio we need to support our nationwide 5G network deployment,” said Dave Mayo, Executive Vice President of Network Development for DISH Wireless. “Our team has already developed colocation plans for American Tower sites across the country to bring a new generation of connectivity to Americans.” said Dave Mayo, Executive Vice President of Network Development for DISH Wireless.
American Tower’s Executive Vice President Steve Vondran spoke on the agreement saying, “We look forward to this agreement evolving into a long-term, mutually beneficial strategic partnership. We believe that our nationwide portfolio of communications sites is optimally positioned to continue to serve as the backbone of today’s critical mobile broadband networks while assuring a meaningful share of new leasing activity in the marketplace.”
Deals such as this are going to play a major role in seeing DISH Wireless complete its deadline for launching its 5G network. As a stipulation of purchasing Boost Mobile and being allowed to become a wireless provider by the FCC, DISH Wireless has been given a deadline of June 2025 to cover 75% of Americans with its 5G network or it will be subjected to a fine that will cost the company more than $2 billion. That is more than 20% of its proposed $10 billion buildout budget. DISH Wireless taking a greenfield design approach will be crucial for the company to limit costs and stay on budget, but deals such as this with American Tower will also play a big part.
Beginning in 2022, DISH Wireless will begin cash payments to American Tower which will grow as DISH continues to grow its 5G network across America. DISH Wireless will also receive the use of American Tower’s zoning, permitting, and various other pre-construction services and the ability to share generators at select sites. This move is a major step towards assuring that DISH Wireless will have the proproper infrastructure to unleash its 5G network and follows another impressive deal that would see the leader in satellite TV-turned wireless company sign seven deals earlier in 2021.
Source: Yahoo! Finance
