Dish and T-Mobile Say They’ve Ended Fight Over Airwaves Purchase

Todd Shields, Bloomberg News

A Dish Network satellite dish on the roof of a home in Crockett, California, US, on Monday, July 31, 2023. Dish Network Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on August 3. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Dish Network Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. told a US court they had agreed to give Dish until April 1 to buy a set of T-Mobile airwaves after the satellite network missed an August deadline to do so.

As part of the agreement, Dish will pay a $100 million extension fee to T-Mobile, the companies said in a filing Wednesday. The US District Court for the District of Columbia will have to approve the arrangement.

The airwaves divestiture was ordered by US officials in an effort to restore competition lost when T-Mobile bought wireless provider Sprint Corp. in a 2020 deal. If Dish doesn’t buy the airwaves, T-Mobile must auction them, the agreement said.

An extension would help “Dish compete as the nation’s fourth facilities-based carrier,” a Dish spokesperson said. “We hope the Court expeditiously adopts this uncontested proposed modification.”

Dish previously had until August to buy the airwaves, but sought an extension supported by the US Department of Justice when it missed that deadline. T-Mobile had earlier asked the court to deny that request so it could auction the frequencies.

The filing Wednesday was a reversal, with the country’s No. 3 wireless carrier moving closer to finally selling parts of its spectrum. US antitrust officials joined in the pleading, leaving no parties to the case opposed to the deadline extension.

The case is US v Deutsche Telekom AG et al, 1:19-cv-02232, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington, DC)