Dish Plans First IoT Network Deployments by Year-End

The first deployments of Dish Network's planned narrowband IoT network should start by year-end, with the core network installed this summer, Chairman Charlie Ergen told Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr in meetings recapped in an FCC docket 17-183 posting Friday. Dish said it plans to take delivery of radios for the network by fall and is identifying and acquiring tower sites. It said the first wave of installations of radios on towers in some markets will be done by year's end, with deployments to continue through 2019. The company said stand-alone 5G standardization work will go in parallel, and during completion of phase one of the IoT network, it will be upgraded and expanded to 5G. Ergen has said phase two would involve integrating 5G connectivity (see 1708030043). Dish said that during Q1, it signed lease agreements with more than a dozen tower companies and has been signing agreements with regional and nationwide vendors for site acquisition, installation and other construction services. The satellite-TV provider urged the FCC to act on a petition for rulemaking by the MVDDS (multichannel video distribution and data service) 5G Coalition seeking use of the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for 5G broadband (see 1604260068). Dish is a member of the coalition.