Behind Dish Wireless Coup, Ties to Alaskan Native Groups

The road to Dish’s coup to win a large chunk of wireless licenses -- with the aid of a $3.3 billion discount aimed at small businesses -- started in Texas and wound through Alaska.

Texas investor, lawyer, fantasy-fiction author and former jailhouse teacher Stephen Hillard was a key member of an eclectic investment team that backed Dish’s successful bids for many of the licenses sold at government auction, putting to use decades of ties he had built to Alaskan Native American groups. The arrangements Hillard’s firm, Council Tree, helped put together allowed Dish to qualify for a 25% discount that is meant to bring small players into the wireless industry. Critics say Dish’s use of the incentive plan has only given a big company another avenue to control a scarce public resource -- radio waves. To obtain the small-business discount, Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen struck partnerships to create two investment vehicles -- Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless. One is backed by Doyon Ltd., an Alaskan firm owned by Native Americans with interests in oil and land. The other drew investment giant BlackRock Inc. and former FCC official John Muleta, public records show.