Dish Network has just gained a new ally in its quest to become the fourth wireless provider in the country. The funny thing about this is that its new supporter, Public Knowledge, was initially against the Sprint-T-Mobile merger last year.
According to the report, Public Knowledge recently asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make changes to the 12GHz spectrum being used by Dish. By making these modifications, Dish will be able to compete better against the three existing carriers.
Once this modification is approved by the FCC, the 12GHz network will allow 500MHz of contiguous 5G spectrum to be used. But since the 12GHz band is very different, it’s still early to speculate how this network will be able to compete against the major carriers.
Public Knowledge’s SVP Harold Feld shared that 12GHz may not close the gap between Dish and its rivals completely, but it can still do its part in helping Dish handle the number of customers a fourth major carrier would have.
Apart from supporting Dish with its goal of being a fourth carrier, the public interest-centered group has also shown support for the network in other arenas. For one thing, the group has asked the FCC to intervene with the ongoing dispute against Dish and T-Mobile regarding the CDMA network. The group hopes the FCC would act as a mediator between the two companies so that the affected customers won’t lose service once T-Mobile shuts down Sprint’s CDMA network.
