[Rumor] Sprint & Dish May be Planning to Team-Up on National Wireless Network

[dgstorm]

Here's an intriguing rumor for Friday afternoon. For several weeks now we have been hearing industry mumblings that Dish Network is trying to get their own wireless phone network going. Supposedly, they have been courting several big players in the mobile tech world, including Google. Today's rumor suggests Dish might actually be teaming up with Sprint for a national wireless network. Here's a quote with the details,

Unnamed sources have told Bloomberg that Sprint (S) has been trying to hash out a deal with Dish that would let the satellite television provider “offer mobile-phone service over the carrier’s network” in exchange for giving Sprint “access to Dish’s mobile airwaves, which aren’t currently being used.” From there, the companies would either “share revenue from customers who sign up for a Dish wireless service, or Dish may pay Sprint a fee to use the network.” Dish, which wants to use a 40MHz chunk of satellite spectrum on the 2GHz band for terrestrial LTE-Advanced services, has also reportedly held talks with Google (GOOG) to jointly operate a nationwide LTE network that would officially set up the companies as direct competitors with wireless giants Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T).

If these rumors turn out to be true, then we could see the ries of Dish network and Sprint to truly compete head-on with AT&T and Verizon. It would certainly be a surprising twist of fate if something like this were to occur. Share your thoughts.

Source: BGR

[ThisGuy]

I manage field techs in Dish, and we've all been wondering what they are going to do with the acquired spectrum. Looks like we know now :-)

[Mfinchv1]

Ive been folllwing this for months....sprint is agaisnt them creating a wireless network. Its all a big mess

[johnomaz]

Heh, Sprint and Dish, two companies I'm not fond of. Sprint service is horrible in my area and Dish, ok, not much against Dish.

[Narsil]

Would this then be satellite-based phone service rather than cellular tower-based?

[jpiarull]

Would this then be satellite-based phone service rather than cellular tower-based?

Is certainly an interesting point, however with the signal having to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere at great distances, I would feel that would result in signal loss and degrade in efficiency. Pretty sure land-based towers hold better potential in terms of connectivity reliability and strength, plus you would need tremendous amounts of satellites to bounce the signal of a wide spectrum of users, you're talking millions. Don't think they would be able to handle that kind of demand very well.

[dgstorm]

Is certainly an interesting point, however with the signal having to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere at great distances, I would feel that would result in signal loss and degrade in efficiency. Pretty sure land-based towers hold better potential in terms of connectivity reliability and strength, plus you would need tremendous amounts of satellites to bounce the signal of a wide spectrum of users, you're talking millions. Don't think they would be able to handle that kind of demand very well.

It's not actually that Dish network plans to use their satellites for phone service. It's that Dish actually owns some additional spectrum that can be used for cell phone use, and they want to team up with someone to take advantage of it.

[sargentmajord]

Here's an intriguing rumor for Friday afternoon. For several weeks now we have been hearing industry mumblings that Dish Network is trying to get their own wireless phone network going. Supposedly, they have been courting several big players in the mobile tech world, including Google. Today's rumor suggests Dish might actually be teaming up with Sprint for a national wireless network. Here's a quote with the details,

If these rumors turn out to be true, then we could see the ries of Dish network and Sprint to truly compete head-on with AT&T and Verizon. It would certainly be a surprising twist of fate if something like this were to occur. Share your thoughts.

Source: BGR

Not happening googles got dish many reasons why an proof that shows dish will never team with sprint an will with google

[Narsil]

Not happening googles got dish many reasons why an proof that shows dish will never team with sprint an will with google

I...umm...could you repost that in English? I have no idea what you're trying to convey.

[sargentmajord]

I...umm...could you repost that in English? I have no idea what you're trying to convey.

Sprint doesnt have a chance in hell in aquiring dish or dishes spectrum google will get it