DISH as Wireless Carrier: What's that mean for me and 5G?

Today DISH stood to gain in a BIG way thanks to the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile USA approved by the United States Department of Justice. T-Mobile USA and Sprint will become one carrier, but they'll need to divest control of a whole lot of STUFF to DISH in order to make that merger possible. DISH will effectively become a "national facilities-based wireless carrier," and will deploy the "Nation's First Standalone 5G Broadband Network."

Sorta, yeah, it does. According to DISH Co-Founder and Chairman Charlie Ergen, "These opportunities will set the stage for our entry as the nation's fourth facilities-based wireless competitor and accelerate our work to launch the country's first standalone 5G broadband network."

The agreement with the US government requires that DISH take up the mantel of the fourth big carrier here in the USA. Part of that agreement is that they make a massive effort to make 5G a reality across the USA in a certain amount of time – for lots and lots of potential consumers.

"The new commitments require DISH to use its spectrum to deploy a nationwide 5G broadband network covering at least 70 percent of the U.S. population by June 14, 2023." If DISH doesn't reach this goal on time, they'll "make voluntary contributions to the U.S. Treasury of up to $2.2 billion."

So either we get a 5G network or the US Treasury gets cash. I feel like these things are not very equitable... but who am I to say, really?

The arrangements made with the government, T-Mobile, Sprint, and DISH, also "provide DISH the option" to buy up a bunch of tower, network equipment and retail assets that'd otherwise just be decommissioned during the Sprint and T-Mobile integration process.