Dish Leasing Space on Crown Castle Towers as It Builds 5G Network

Dish Network agreed to lease space on up to 20,000 Crown Castle towers, they said Monday. “DISH will receive certain fiber transport services and also have the option to utilize Crown Castle for pre-construction services,” the companies said. “The agreement encompasses leases on towers located nationwide, helping DISH facilitate its buildout of the first open, standalone and virtualized 5G network in the U.S.” New Street said the deal is positive for Crown Castle and the broader tower sector. Crown Castle has “30% of the US tower market, which could suggest that DISH intends to build to 65,000 towers if DISH’s network build is evenly distributed across the tower companies,” the firm told investors.