Dish files for extension to buy 800 MHz spectrum from T-Mobile

Dish Network wants to buy 800 MHz licenses from T-Mobile, but it doesn’t have $3.5 billion on hand to finance the purchase, so it’s asking the US government to give it 10 more months to come up with the capital. In a filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Dish argues that turmoil in global capital markets in the past few years have made Dish’s ability to buy the licenses more onerous than anticipated. Dish figures that 10 months is enough time to raise additional capital and obtain financing, in part because its just-announced merger with EchoStar will put it on more solid financial footing. The 800 MHz spectrum transaction is part of a deal hammered out with the government to allow T-Mobile to merge with Sprint. Dish was a party to the transaction because it was set up to be a No. 4 facilities-based carrier to replace Sprint and conditions were set forth to make that happen. One of those was the ability for Dish to acquire the 800 MHz licenses, which would be advantageous to Dish because of its great low-band spectrum coverage propagation characteristics. Recognizing the importance of the spectrum for its greenfield 5G network deployment, Dish already spent more than $1 billion to support 800 MHz on its network. Specifically, Dish said radios compatible with 800 MHz are now on more than 16,000 towers where it has deployed 5G, meaning 800 MHz can be made available to customers immediately upon acquisition of the licenses.