DISH Wireless Delivers Agile and Secure 5G Connectivity to DoD

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June 22, 2022

By Stephen Bye, Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, DISH Wireless

 

DISH’s sister company, Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), recently made headlines when it was awarded an $18 million contract from the Department of Defense (DoD) to deploy a standalone 5G network at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington State. While Hughes serves as the prime contractor on this project, DISH Wireless will power the network by providing access to our deep spectrum portfolio, engineering services, support and wireless networking expertise.

 

To prepare for the project, Hughes asked our team to create a private 5G network demonstration at our DISH Wireless headquarters in Littleton, Colorado. My team worked closely with our partners, including Cisco and JMA, to plan and implement the demonstration.

 

We hosted a group from the Navy at our office on February 15-17, 2022, and they were thrilled to see our 5G standalone Open RAN-based private network in action. The team from the Navy saw firsthand the many benefits of the DISH Wireless model, including the reduced network footprint that allows agile and secure military deployments

 

As we build America’s first 5G Smart Network™, we’re keen on teaming with Hughes on this important project to deliver a fast, secure, reliable network to serve the U.S. Department of Defense and support mission-critical functions in collaboration with an all-American ecosystem of partners.

 

DISH’s approach is different from other carriers — our network offers more control and security than other options on the market, making us an ideal partner for this security-sensitive project.

 

The Whidbey Island project deployment began in September 2021, and leverages Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and meets National Security Administration (NSA) Commercial Solution for Classified (CSFC) requirements. Working together on the project, with Hughes as the integrator, are: DISH Wireless, Boingo Wireless, Cisco, Dell, JMA Wireless and Intel.

 

This is just the beginning, and we look forward to continuing our enterprise-level partnerships to bring improved connectivity to a wide variety of innovative companies, sectors and agencies across the nation.