Dish rings up smartphone makers

Dish Network appears to be getting some smartphone makers to support the unique spectrum bands it plans to use for its forthcoming 5G network.

The development represents yet another puzzle piece Dish will need to employ in order to become a fourth nationwide provider of 5G in the US.

As first reported by Phone Scoop, the FCC recently approved two new smartphones from Motorola that support Dish's Band 70. That spectrum band covers Dish's AWS-4, H Block and unpaired AWS-3 spectrum licenses, and no other network operator in the world uses that specific band. Thus, phones that support the band imply direct support of Dish by handset makers.

Figure 1: The Dish Wireless headquarters building in Littleton, Colorado.
(Source: Dish)

"Motorola is a great partner and you should expect to see more devices coming with Band 70 from Motorola and other top manufacturers in the future," a Dish representative wrote in response to questions from Light Reading.

Further, PCMag reported that the phones are capable of Voice over 5G NR (VoNR), pronounced "voner," which is the technology Dish plans to use to support voice calls over its 5G network.

Importantly, Motorola may not be alone in supporting Dish's 5G plans. According to a LinkedIn profile, Abhijeet Banode is Dish's new "Head of Apple Product Development." Banode was previously responsible for handling Apple devices for Comcast's Xfinity Mobile MVNO, according to his profile.

Apple is widely expected to announce a new low-cost iPhone during a media event this week. A Dish representative did not immediately respond to questions about Banode.

Nonetheless, the developments come roughly a year after Dish hired Paul Chapple to obtain phones and other devices that support the company's vast spectrum holdings. Chapple previously worked at a number of handset makers, including HTC and Samsung, before heading up smartphone procurements for T-Mobile US.

During the company's most recent quarterly conference call with investors, Dish identified dozens of 5G deployment markets it said it will reach ahead of a June 2022 deadline.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano