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Is Dish Going To Enter Into The Wireless Business Too?

Is Dish Going To Enter Into The Wireless Business Too?

 

When the Federal Communications Commission announced the top bidders of its last spectrum auction, Dish Network’s name was mentioned along with T-Mobile and Comcast. As a matter of fact, Dish had spent $6.2 billion, which is second only to T-Mobile’s almost $8 billion spending. T-Mobile would want to acquire more airwaves in order to be able to give industry leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T a run for their money. But in Dish’s case, it is sort of unusual considering it is a satellite TV service provider. Could the company be planning to leverage the spectrum it acquired in order to introduce a wireless service in the near future? 

Not many people may realize this but Dish Network has participated in past incentive auctions aside from the most recent one. And it is fair to believe that the company has accumulated some considerable holdings of airwaves. Some industry watchers even say that its spectrum assets are now as deep as some mobile operators. A satellite TV company launching a wireless service would not be too surprising, or at least not anymore. After all, Comcast grabbed some headlines recently when it announced its plans to debut its Xfinity Mobile brand later this year. 

Intriguingly, some analysts are looking at another angle. Rather than launching its own wireless brand, it is quite possible that Dish Network is fattening itself up in order to become a prime target for bigger players wanting to grab hold of its assets. Dish happens to have a cornucopia of 600 MegaHertz spectrum -- low frequency airwaves that are ideal for transmitting signals across vast distances or through the walls of buildings and large structures. 

So who would be buying if Dish is willing to sell? Verizon Wireless could be interested, but given its lack of participation in the last auction, maybe the Big Red is not looking to acquire additional spectrum (for now). After all, by putting most of its attention to preparing its 5G service, it could be concentrating its efforts more in finding high frequency airwaves. As for T-Mobile, it already spent nearly $8 billion getting some low frequency spectrum. But considering that Dish has an abundance of midband spectrum, it could still remain an acquisition target for T-Mobile. What about Comcast? Well, everything depends on the success of its Xfinity Mobile. If the brand gains traction among consumers, then Comcast might find itself looking for a partner that can provide the additional airwaves it needs.