WHAT ABOUT PREPAID CUSTOMERS?
As part of the deal, Dish will get Sprint’s prepaid
business, including Boost Mobile and Virgin
Mobile. Even if its network isn’t ready, customers
aren’t supposed to see service quality drop, as
Dish is going to use T-Mobile’s network until it
can run its own.
HOW STRONG IS DISH?
That’s an open question.
Public-interest groups point out that Sprint is
an existing company with more than 50 million
subscribers. Dish would start from scratch
building a network that will cost tens of billions.
It gets only 9 million customers from the deal
and will have to fight to win more.
As for the network, Dish already owns spectrum,
or airwave rights, but hasn’t been using it. The
deal would give Dish additional airwaves that
travel far and work well in rural areas. Dish is
supposed to put those to use in its own network,
but it has to rely on T-Mobile’s network in the
meantime. MoffettNathanson analyst Craig
Moffett says the set-up suggests Dish won’t have
an incentive to set “aggressively” low prices.
Dish says it will offer service to 70 percent of
the U.S. population by 2023. But while it’s billed
as 5G, Dish is promising speeds that are only
slightly higher than what’s typical today.
It may take a while before Dish can challenge
the bigger companies in a way that benefits
consumers — if it ever does — the way
T-Mobile developed a reputation for itself as
the “Un-carrier.”