T AT&T Inc

By Drew FitzGerald 

The telecom industry turned out in force to oppose a recent Pentagon proposal to build a shared fifth-generation wireless network, with a familiar pot-stirrer making an exception: Dish Network Corp.

The satellite-TV company last week submitted a list of suggestions for the Department of Defense, which is exploring 5G technology for its own operations. The Colorado company said its under-construction cellular network could meet many of the criteria that the military is considering while also serving private-sector interests.

"There is a precedent for how the DoD can take advantage of shared physical assets and network resources, while maintaining operational control and flexibility to support the DoD's objectives," Dish wrote in its filing, citing satellites that handle commercial and military clients and the FirstNet public-safety network run by AT&T Inc.

It is unclear how receptive the military will be to the scenarios outlined by Dish, which is controlled by billionaire co-founder Charlie Ergen. The Defense Department issued a request for information in September, a first step toward soliciting bids from contractors.

The request dangled a prize far more valuable than a standard defense contract: access to up to 450 megahertz of radio frequencies currently used for military radar systems. Telecom-industry analysts say exclusive rights to such a wide swath of frequencies would fetch tens of billions of dollars if they were sold on the open market.

Cellphone carriers such as AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. have already spent billions of dollars to acquire spectrum licenses that guarantee their customers a clean signal. Dish has spent more than $21 billion to amass its own reserved frequencies.

Dish hasn't yet installed most of the cellular antennae, radio base stations and fiber-optic lines needed to run its network, which will cost an estimated $10 billion to build. A single defense contract wouldn't foot the whole bill, but partnering with the federal government could pay for some capital expenses while giving Mr. Ergen's company the credibility it needs to attract other corporate customers.

The Federal Communications Commission usually handles the assignment of radio spectrum to commercial operators. The latest Pentagon proposal could bypass that traditional process by maintaining the Defense Department's title over the airwaves, which are used today for early-warning radar systems and other military equipment, while commercial operators lease the asset to connect cellphones, smart vehicles and other 5G devices.

Other telecom companies said the Defense Department's trial balloon could interfere with a commercial model that has worked well in the past.

AT&T policy executive Joan Marsh said a wholesale or leasing model would fail to deliver the benefits its proponents promise. "There is simply no reason to take a gamble and rush through an unproven and barely tested change of course now," she added.

Verizon said a Defense Department project to select commercial operators would overstep the bounds of what Congress authorized it to do with its spectrum. "There is no legal authority for DoD to launch such an approach," the company wrote in a filing reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Dish's October filing likewise opposed "any proposal to create a nationalized, government-owned and operated 5G network" as an inefficient use of resources. But the company went on to detail how the military could use Dish's cellular-tower equipment and software to run its own wireless network.

Dish has benefited in the past from federal policy compromises. In 2018, the company urged the federal government to block T-Mobile's proposed merger with then-rival Sprint Corp. while hinting that a different deal structure could sway its stance.

Mr. Ergen's company threw its support behind the merger after the U.S. Justice Department demanded that the carriers divest some assets to Dish, ensuring a fourth competitor in the market for wireless services. Dish took control of Sprint's Boost Mobile business, along with other divested assets, in July.

Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2020 17:12 ET (22:12 GMT)

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