We’ve been following the back and forth between Dish and T-Mobile over the former’s $3.59 billion option to buy 13.5MHz of 800MHz low-band spectrum from T-Mobile. The option dates back to the complicated deals that were made to get the FCC and the DOJ to approve T-Mobile‘s acquisition of Sprint for $26 billion. That deal enabled T-Mobile to obtain Sprint’s holdings of 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum giving it the lead in the battle to be 5G King in the U.S.
Ex-T-Mobile CEO John Legere was running the carrier when it issued the 800MHz spectrum option to Dish
But, and this is a big but, T-Mobile now has the opportunity to shop around the 13.5MHz of 800MHz airwaves and if it does find an alternative buyer, it must still give Dish the opportunity to meet the new price from the alternative buyer. This helps with a previous complaint made by T-Mobile that the value of the 800MHz spectrum will decline while waiting for Dish to exercise or decline the option because the licenses begin to expire in March 2028.
The amendment has been approved by the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and will become effective once the District Court enters an Amended Final Judgment.
You might be wondering if Dish has a GoFundMe account or some reason why it feels optimistic about its ability to pay for the spectrum in the near future. An upcoming merger with EchoStar, a distribution agreement with Amazon, and other potentially fruitful partnerships have Dish expecting it to be much more well off before the amendment ends on April 1st.
