Dish has reportedly won a $1.5 billion Federal Communications Commission (FCC) H block spectrum auction, which the company may use for its own wireless service.
Dish Network, the television satellite company, is working hard to establish itself in the wireless communication business in the U.S. With the recent spectrum acquisition, the company will have a massive portion of H block spectrum in the U.S. in its grasp.
"With this successful auction, the Commission makes good on its commitment to unleash more spectrum for consumers and businesses, delivering a significant down payment towards funding the nationwide interoperable public safety network," said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a statement. "The H Block auction is a win for the American people, and we thank Chairwoman Clyburn for her leadership scheduling it. We also commend everyone who worked so hard to resolve technical issues that made this previously unusable spectrum valuable."
The H Block spectrum which the company has bought is 1900MHz. The spectrum is not the widest or most powerful available but it still packs a punch.
In April 2013, Dish made a bid to purchase 70 percent stakes in the U.S. wireless communications company Sprint. However, it lost the bid to Japanese telecom giant SoftBank.
T-Mobile, which is the fourth top carrier in the U.S., is working very aggressively to expand its user base in the country. The carrier has started an "Uncarrier" initiative, which offers a lot of advantages to customers such as unlimited data, international roaming, and more. Rumors suggest that Dish has plans to acquire T-Mobile and enter the wireless communications market in the U.S.
"I am pleased that the Commission has completed its first spectrum auction in six years. This was no easy task. In light of once intractable issues surrounding the H Block, the Commission worked together, took steps to ensure that the auction would yield maximum revenue, and refrained from saddling the spectrum with unnecessary conditions. As a result, we have raised $1.564 billion from spectrum that used to be viewed as almost worthless," said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai in a statement.
The H block spectrum auction began on January 22 and closed after 167 rounds of bidding. It will be interesting to see how Dish utilizes the recently acquired spectrum.
