Segra, which is owned by Cox Communications, has laid fiber to about 500 tower sites for Dish’s 5G network in the past year.
In 2020 Dish selected Segra along with other fiber providers, including Everstream, Uniti and Zayo to provide backhaul and fronthaul transport for its new nationwide wireless network.
Segra is providing the fiber deployments for Dish in some states along the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern seaboard. In the first phase these sites were in North Carolina and Virginia.
Martie Willaby, Segra’s vice president for Carrier Sales, said the connectivity goes from the towers, aggregates into a ring with other towers in the area, and then goes to Dish network aggregation points, which Willaby refers to as NNIs.
Of Dish, he said, “They have a national ring that connects all their NNIS." All the NNIs are basically in data centers where Dish has secured space and power. And the data centers all have an AWS presence, which is important because Dish is using AWS to host its RAN and mobile core.
The phases of Segra’s work mirror Dish’s commitments to roll out its network. Phase 1 included Dish’s commitment to cover 20% of the U.S. population by June 2022. Phase 2 will entail its commitment to cover 70% of the population by next June. For Segra, Phase 2 will include fiber deployments in West Virginia and South Carolina, where it will connect about 700 more tower sites.
“Thanks to Segra and our other fiber providers, Dish's Smart 5G wireless network is available to over 20% of the U.S. population in more than 120 cities across the country,” said Dave Mayo, executive vice president of network development for Dish Wireless, in a statement. “Segra has helped us connect consumers throughout Virginia and the Carolinas, while meeting an extremely aggressive timeline.”
Segra’s work with Dish will also benefit its own business, which does last mile connectivity for enterprises, government groups and other wireless carriers. “It extends our network reach and allows us to get deeper in our states and metros,” said Willaby.