1998: DISH purchased LMDS at FCC auction, which has been repurposed for terrestrial flexible use.

2004: DISH purchased 12 GHz (MVDDS) at auction, which provides low-power, one-way terrestrial. DISH is now urging the FCC to update the 12 GHz rules to allow it to be used for 5G service.

2008: In a major low-band auction, DISH purchased near nationwide downlink spectrum in the 700 MHz band.

2011: DISH acquired 40 MHz of satellite spectrum from two bankrupt companies. The FCC ultimately authorized that spectrum to be used for terrestrial broadband, calling it AWS-4.

2014: At FCC auction, DISH acquired nationwide H Block spectrum, which is next to part of DISH's AWS-4 spectrum. That spectrum band ultimately became 3GPP Band 70.

2017: In a decisive step for DISH’s 5G plans, we won the rights to nationwide low-band paired spectrum in the 600 MHz auction.

2019: DISH purchased large portions of mmWave spectrum, some of the most important bandwidth for future high-band use cases.

2021: As part of the plan for nationwide coverage in the 3 GHz band, DISH won nationwide CBRS. This spectrum was previously encumbered bandwidth that has now been designated by the FCC for use by incumbent users, priority access license (PAL) users and general authorized access (GAA) users. DISH owns PALs in every county in the contiguous United States.

2022: DISH won nationwide 3.45 MHz spectrum at auction. DISH's holdings in 3.45 are next to DISH's CBRS holdings.