Chairman Pai welcomes T-Mobile divestiture of Boost Mobile to DISH

July 1, 2020 - WASHINGTON, USA: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai today welcomed the announcement by T-Mobile and DISH Network that the divestiture of Boost Mobile to DISH has been completed. The Commission conditioned its 2019 approval of T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint on T-Mobile divesting Boost Mobile, a prepaid mobile service subsidiary, so that price-sensitive customers in densely populated areas would not be harmed by the merger.

In April 2020, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau approved the network access agreement reached by T-Mobile and DISH as consistent with the principles set forth by the Commission to ensure that Boost would be able to compete robustly once it was divested to DISH. The acquisition of Boost Mobile by DISH, along with DISH’s existing spectrum resources, positions DISH to become a new and significant competitor in the mobile wireless marketplace.

“I’m pleased to see that T-Mobile has met one of its most important merger commitments,” said Chairman Pai. “Today’s action is a key step towards promoting vigorous competition in the wireless marketplace, particularly for price-conscious consumers in our nation’s cities. I also welcome DISH’s entry into the mobile industry.

With this divestiture and its existing spectrum resources, DISH has the potential to make a big impact on a wireless marketplace that is transitioning to 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity. Of course, while this divestiture is good news, the Commission remains committed to ensuring that T-Mobile and DISH comply in the coming months and years with all of the conditions imposed by the FCC in this proceeding.”

By leveraging T-Mobile’s network and spectrum resources through a network access agreement, DISH will be able to offer competitive service options while it builds out its own 5G network. DISH has made a commitment to use its acquisition of Boost Mobile, along with 5G infrastructure investments, to deploy a competitive 5G wireless service using its long-held spectrum licenses. DISH’s buildout plan includes a first-of-its-kind greenfield standalone 5G network using open radio access network equipment and virtualized, cloud-native 5G-RAN software.