Earlier this month at the Dish Team Summit it was announced to Dish employees and partners that Dish plans to launch narrowband “Internet of Things” (IoT) internet in early 2020 and spoke of plans to be the U.S.’s first standalone 5G provider at a later date. According to the Satelliteguys who attended the event Dish’s CEO Erik Carlson said that connectivity will be a major part of Dish’s business going forward. Now Dish’s 5G network is not likely to be focused on phones like AT&T’s 5G service. Dish describes their IoT service as internet for the world of “Internet of Things.” Things like smart cars, medical equipment, etc.
This comes as last December DISH’s Chairman Charlie Ergen gave an interview to Bloomberg, saying 5G will be their “Manhattan Project.”
“I grew up in this little town called Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which was famous for being part of the Manhattan Project,” Ergen said. “It took them four years to design and build the atomic bomb. And that’s about how long it’s going to take us to design and build the greatest 5G network. And we are in the first year of building that today.”
According to an earlier interview with Charlie Ergen, DISH expects to spend about $10 billion to build their 5G network. DISH won spectrum in the recent FCC auction and has been buying spectrum for over a decade.
Now it looks like that effort to build an internet of things network is now paying off with plans to launch its network as the first IoT internet network provider in early 2020.
Update: We updated the story to better reflect Dish’s focus on “Internet of Things” with their narrowband internet network.
Did you know we have a YouTube Channel? Every week we have a live Cord Cutting Q&A, and weekly Cord Cutting recap shows exclusively on our YouTube Channel!
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews. Need cord cutting tech support? Join our Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.