DISH Has Terrestrial Approval - now what?!

Now that the FCC has approved terrestrial use of DISH's 40 MHz of spectrum (2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz), what are its options?

1. Build it out - it's capitally intensive to build out a national network so a wireless carrier partner is necessary.  Why a carrier? It's in their core competency to implement and run networks.  Sprint is in the best position to meet DISH's wireless buildout goal with its Network Vision (spectrum hosting capability) strategy.  Stating the obvious - having a carrier such as Sprint host allows DISH to bring services up quickly and minimize a huge self-built price tag.

2. Sell the spectrum - getting money in the short term is always desirable.  But as the industry has seen, spectrum will always appreciate.  Yet there's been precedence for this. Spectrum Co (cable companies) sold its AWS spectrum to Verizon Wireless. They realized an appreciation in the base price from when they bought it in 2006.  More important aside from the money, cable companies (Cox, Comcast, Bright House and Time Warner) has strategic wireline and wireless possibilities with Verizon/Verizon Wireless.  With this in mind, DISH could cut a sale deal and wholesale at favored rates from the buyer. Presumably, the spectrum buyer will be a wireless carrier. Sprint would make the most sense.

BUT........
 

Don't forget the devices that will run on the DISH spectrum. Device and chip makers haven't exactly created product yet to meet this need. There is a ramp up time to incorporate it into the product portfolios. It doesn't happen overnight - look at the time in which Sprint/Clearwire announced TD-LTE 2.5 GHz support to when devices will have that band and technology incorporated.  This is a factor in both the above scenarios.

Let's see what DISH does.........