Dish Network aims for smarter phones, simpler bills

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen wants to launch a stand-alone wireless business that would offer mobile broadband, text and voice services to compete against telecom giants AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Ergen, who stepped down as Dish chief executive in June to focus on the mobile strategy, revealed details of that plan during a discussion at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "We have to start the wireless business outside of Dish Network, then we'll fold it in," he said. He said that, personally, he wants a phone that can be used for talking, texting and surfing the Web at the same time, and with a bill that he can understand. "I signed up for a plan from one of the carriers — it was $59, but my bill is $164.28 and it's like 18 pages long," he said. "I don't think the wireless business has to be that way. I think you can actually have a phone that works, and I think you can have a bill that you understand."