Dish wants to be a major carrier in the US
Right now, when you buy a phone, you can either pick the blue company, the magenta company, or the red company. There are three major carriers that dominate the States, and establishing a fourth one will be quite the hurdle. A company as well-known as Dish seems like one that can do it. The company has been working behind the scenes to build up its 5G network and eventually trade blows with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. If you think this worries the other carriers, think again. This was actually agreed upon when T-Mobile bought out Sprint. One stipulation for the deal was that Dish establishes itself as a major mobile carrier and covers at least 20% of the population by June 2022. That’s only three months away, and we haven’t seen anything solid from the company just yet. So, how is it going? Well, according to the company, it’s going quite alright. The chairman for Dish, Charlie Ergen, spoke about the company’s venture and gave us some good news. Dish recently tested its 5G network in Las Vegas, and Ergen stated that “when [the 5G network] works, it works pretty well.” That’s reassuring news… kinda. In any case, he went on to say that the main obstacles have been overcome.
So, what’s next?
Right now, the company is still testing things out which puts them YEARS behind the competition. Regardless, the company is planning on expanding its coverage for the Las Vegas network in the coming weeks. This is good to hear because three months is not a long time at all. If the company manages to get its Vegas network up and running, the next goal will be a big leap. Dish will then target 25 major metropolitan areas en route to becoming a major carrier. We can expect cities like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, and others to be. After that, the company hopes to cover at least 70% of the country by 2023. That’s a lot of work in such a short amount of time. 2023 10 months away, and 10 months is like 10 minutes in the tech world. Hopefully, we’ll see another major carrier before next year.
