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The tussle between T-Mobile and Dish might be coming to an end as both parties seem to be working together. After months of back and forth between both parties on this issue, there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Both parties have been fighting over the extension of the purchase of the 800MHz spectrum licences by Dish.
A few weeks ago both parties were in court fighting out this issue with Dish not agreeing to pay the initial price T-Mobile was asking for. The reason for this drawback on Dish’s side was a result of some financial drawback that the purchaser in the agreement went into. Initially, both parties agreed that this purchase would go down in the summer of 2023 and Dish will pay $3.59 billion to purchase the 800MHz spectrum licences.
Since this previous arrangement didn’t go according to plan, both parties have been trying to work out a solution in court. Now, Dish has agreed to make a $100 million upfront payment and finish off the payment later on. While this new agreement favours Dish, there are a few clauses to it that must be adhered to judiciously.
Finally, T-Mobile and Dish agreed on a plan to purchase the 800MHz spectrum licences with a few clauses
Now for a bit of backstory on this issue, it all started with T-Mobile’s purchase of Sprint two years ago. With this purchase, T-Mobile got access to Sprint’s holdings of 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum. This gave T-Mobile the upper hand in the 5G race, hence leaving Dish hanging as it needed access to the 800MHz spectrum licences to operate.
For this reason, the service provider planned to purchase the 800MHz spectrum licences from Sprint’s owner. However, this purchase met a deadline as Dish ran into financial turbulence, hence delaying their purchase. For this reason, both parties had to end up in court trying to settle the entire issue.
During this period, T-Mobile was making plans to skip Dish and sell the 800MHz spectrum licences to another buyer. Well, it turns out that Dish is still very interested in purchasing the 800MHz spectrum licences, as both companies seem to now be on the same page. Dish is now agreeing to T-Mobile’s offer to pay a $100 million upfront fee and then complete payments afterwards.
The clause in this offer is that Dish will have to make this purchase under a set period. T-Mobile says that the other party in this new agreement will need to make payments for the 800MHz spectrum licences within three business days after its court sign-off. This new agreement has got approval from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Once the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signs off on this new agreement, Dish will have only three days to make upfront payments. Failure to do this will make T-Mobile a source for other buyers who are willing to pay the $3.59 billion purchase price. Dish’s merger with EchoStar might give them the financial boost to finish this purchase.