Tammy Parker, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, has revealed why Dish Network did not continue with T-Mobile and opted for AT&T for the ten-year agreement for its new MVNO subscribers.
“This deal is highly beneficial to AT&T as the company not only gains at least $5 billion in revenue streams over the term of this ten-year agreement from new MVNO subscribers, it will also have access to DISH’s spectrum holdings to support DISH customers on the AT&T network,” Tammy Parker, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, said.

According to GlobalData’s latest forecasts, the number of unique mobile users in the US will increase by 5 percent over the next five years. Furthermore, total mobile subscriptions in the US will expand by more than 30 percent during that time and there will be nearly 692.6 million US mobile subscriptions by year-end 2026.

This new arrangement provides a glimpse into AT&T’s concerns regarding the possibility that DISH could sell out to another entity, perhaps even Amazon or Google. Rumors have abounded, even before DISH agreed to build its 5G network on Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud platform, about possible negotiations between Amazon and DISH regarding the former’s potential use of DISH’s forthcoming 5G network to offer new services.

This NSA stipulates that AT&T will be allowed to terminate the NSA in the event of a qualifying change of control of DISH. This could include a rival wireless provider, US cable company or ‘certain large technology companies’ taking over 50 percent more of the voting power or economic value of DISH. AT&T would still have to support DISH’s MVNO customers for up to two years after such a termination.

T-Mobile, and its Sprint network, is currently the primary MVNO partner for Boost and Republic. Ting operates on every nationwide network except AT&T.

However, although DISH’s involvement saved T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint, the relationship between DISH and T-Mobile appears to have been fraught from the start. T-Mobile’s plans to shutter its 3G network by January 2022, leaving many of DISH’s customers without network service, has created an especially contentious standoff between the two companies, which likely helped pave the way for DISH’s new agreement with AT&T,” Tammy Parker said.