Submitted by Mark Hanna
Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.
Dish Networks (DISH) surged out of the gate this morning, but has given back a good portion of those gains as the market has degraded. However, there was good news from the FCC in this name in relation to their proposed wireless plans.
- The federal government on Wednesday gave a boost to Dish Network’s Dish Network plan to create a new U.S. wireless broadband network using satellite broadcast spectrum it bought for $2.9 billion.
- The Federal Communications Commission, at a hearing in Washington, D.C., proposed rewriting the rules to let Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) use the frequencies solely on the ground instead of having to include satellite use of the airwaves, as the current rules for the 40 megahertz require.
- FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, in a written statement, called the proposed changes an important step to relieving the shortage of spectrum for mobile broadband services. “We have been working to address the spectrum crunch, and to enable the continued acceleration of the mobile revolution that is driving economic growth, investment, and valuable new services for consumers and businesses,” he said. “With this item, we are moving to free up 40 MHz of 2 gigahertz spectrum for mobile broadband — a significant step in the Commission’s spectrum agenda.”
- The change would let Dish Network design a mobile broadband network capable of using typical smartphones instead more expensive and bulky devices capable of receiving satellite signals as well as terrestrial ones.
- Making Dish a wireless company will cost billions of dollars and will require Dish Network to strike many partnerships, Ergen said.
- Dish Network had asked for a one-off waiver from the FCC’s existing spectrum requirements. The FCC rejected that application March 9, saying it should change the rules for the frequencies through a public hearing instead of waive them. Dish Network tried to avoid such delay. It worries that it will be slowed down in designing its network and the mobile devices that can use it. A 45-day period of public comment on the proposed rule changes starts after they’re published in the Federal Register, with publication expected within a month. The agency votes on the rules after weighing submitted comments.
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