Would-be US wireless player DISH Network has announced two major vendor agreements: a large purchase of radio units (RUs) from Fujitsu and a multi-year agreement with Altiostar to deliver a cloud-native Open vRAN software solution. Satellite TV giant DISH says it will utilise Fujitsu’s low-band tri-band RUs and mid-band dual-band RUs, which it says are both industry firsts for O-RAN radios. In addition, Fujitsu will provide radio and antenna integration and manage the ‘hardware validation’ between vendors, including Altiostar and Mavenir, which are both providing cloud-native 5G radio software to DISH.
Through its strategic spectrum portfolio and other assets, DISH is poised to enter the US mobile market as a facilities-based provider of wireless services with a nationwide consumer offering and development of the first virtualised, standalone 5G broadband network in the US.