Cable Companies Eye Dish’s Greenfield 5G Network

Dish Networks says the greenfield 5G network that it is building will attract customers such as cable companies and car companies that want to deliver best-in-class services to their customers.Speaking during the company’s call with investors this week, Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said that unlike its wireless operator counterparts, Dish’s 5G network will not have to incorporate the legacy 2G and 3G networks that were built for voice. Instead it will be a stand-alone 5G network. “This isn’t 5G marketing, this is real 5G,” Ergen said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the call.That differentiation, according to Ergen, is appealing to cable companies. Comcast and Charter Communications currently offer wireless services to their customers but use Verizon’s 4G LTE network. However, Ergen said that those companies will want to “leapfrog the incumbents” by using Dish’s network instead.