Dish To Focus On Building Wireless Network For Internet Of Things

Dish Network, one of the major TV and internet providers in the country, has announced new plans of shifting focus from traditional satellite TV to the Internet of Things platform. The new move comes ahead of the innumerable losses suffered by the company in its pay TV customer base during the previous three months of the year. Moreover, the stiffening up of competition in the television broadcast industry by rivals such as AT&T has prompted the company to undertake a major upgrade of its delivery platform by adopting the latest internet connectivity technologies.

Charlie Ergen, Chairman of Board and co-founder of Dish Network stated, “The reason I sleep at night pretty well is that what all those (companies) have in common is they need connectivity for those customers to receive video. And Roger (Lynch, Sling TV’s CEO) knows that the majority (of Sling customers) are not on TV screens but on mobile devices. That’s why you need wireless.”

Dish has made a considerable leap in its proposed wireless network by winning a Federal Communications Commission auction of about $6.2 billion worth of spectrum intended for nationwide coverage. This spectrum operates in low frequency of 600 MHz that results in better coverage and penetration to indoor spaces also. Previously employed by television broadcast stations, this spectrum will enable Dish to build a wireless communications network for internet of things devices like home automation systems, drones, self-driven vehicles, heartbeat monitors, and many others.

“We were not only able to get our nationwide spectrum but also stay in the bigger cities where we felt particularly that IoT would be beneficial,” Ergen said. Reports say that Dish is also considering building a partnership with other major wireless companies like AT&T and T-Mobile. Ergen added, “Our focus today is to build out our network to meet our 2020 deadline with or without partners. We’re prepared to do it.”

Recently, Dish incurred significant losses in its pay TV segment with the inability to attract new paying customers and prevent the loss of its existing customer base. Many other cable and satellite television companies also followed suit and resorted to including high-speed internet bundle with the TV service. With the new move to expand service to the IoT platform, Dish Network is anticipating further growth in its subscriber base while providing them with the best internet services along with pay TV.