If you can't beat 'em, join 'em? Sprint and Dish Network, which were once at odds over Dish's plans to roll out a wireless broadband network, will instead team up on a joint project.
The companies announced plans to jointly develop and deploy a fixed wireless broadband service. They will test the waters in Corpus Christi, Texas, where service is expected to launch in mid-2014. If things work out, the offering will expand to additional markets in the future.
Depending on where customers live, Dish with either install a ruggedized outdoor router or an indoor solution. But both options will feature built-in high-gain antennas to receive the 4G TDD-LTE signal on Sprint's 2.5GHz spectrum.
"With millions underserved by inadequate broadband, the potential to bring a high-speed fixed wireless solution is very compelling to both Dish and Sprint," Tom Cullen, Dish executive vice president of Corporate Development, said in a statement. "We both bring distinct skills, not the least of which for Dish is a workforce of professional technicians who visit thousands of homes every day performing professional installations for both video and broadband."
"This trial with Dish has great potential as it combines the key capabilities and assets of both companies to provide another option to customers with limited broadband access," said Michael Schwartz, Sprint's senior vice president of Corporate and Business Development. "This demonstrates Sprint's ongoing commitment to identify and develop new and innovative products and services that maximize the use and utility of our spectrum and flexible network infrastructure to the benefit of customers and shareholders."
Earlier this year, Sprint and Dish were not so cordial. At issue was 10 MHz of spectrum known as the H Block that the FCC plans to auction off for mobile broadband use.
Sprint and Dish were eyeing that spectrum since they already own spectrum that's adjacent to the bands. Given that they were right next to each other, however, there were concerns about interference since Dish would be converting spectrum used for satellite service into spectrum that would support a terrestrial wireless network.
In June, the FCC approved rules that would allow for the H Block auction, paving the way for a showdown between Dish and Sprint. Last month, however, Sprint announced that it would not participate in the Jan. 22 auction, leaving that spectrum for Dish. The reserve, or lowest acceptable price, for the spectrum is $1.56 billion, FierceWireless said.
The FCC is also coordinating the auction of broadcast spectrum, but the agency's new chairman, Tom Wheeler, recently said that the auction would be pushed to 2015 so that stakeholders had enough time to test an auction system.
Sprint, meanwhile, is reportedly mulling a bid for rival carrier T-Mobile, according to The Wall Street Journal. For more, check out 6 Reasons Sprint Shouldn't Buy T-Mobile as well as Prepare for the Sprint/T-Mobile Merger Lies and Sprint and T-Mobile's Painful Technical Path.