Dish Weighs Alliances with Telecom Operators to Enter Wireless Business
Dish Network will weigh acquisitions, alliances and partnerships with telecom operators as a means for plunging into the wireless business pending FCC approval of its proposed acquisitions of TerreStar and DBSD Networks, CEO Joe Clayton told us Tuesday at the CES Unveiled event in New York.
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With the period for comments having ended last week, Dish expects to get FCC approval “in relatively short order” for the transfer of control of TerreStar and DBSD, Dish Chairman Charles Ergen has said. In addition to the 40 MHz of S-band spectrum that TerreStar and DBSD control, Dish also bought 700 MHz licenses for $712 million in 2008 and expects to forge an alliance with Hughes Communications, which was acquired by Dish set-top box supplier EchoStar, Clayton said. Dish plans to use the 2 GHz band for a terrestrial-only service.
"We definitely need the telecom infrastructure behind our brand,” Clayton said. “We have everything you need, but we do need some of the telecom infrastructure otherwise the build out would take a long time. I can also tell you that broadband has a big future at Hughes and their capabilities fit into our model."
Dish is likely to benefit from AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile, whether it gets federal approval or not, Clayton said. If the proposed purchase is rejected, Dish could have a potential partner in T-Mobile, Clayton said. And if it’s approved, the federal government will be looking for another company to provide competition, he said. If AT&T’s acquisition is approved, “the FCC and the government are going to demand a new player to come into replace T-Mobile and guess who has all the spectrum and assets to do that,” Clayton said. “The government also would likely make AT&T divest itself of certain assets which we would be interested in.”