FCC sets Dish Wireless 5G drive test requirements

US regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) detailed the latest target for new entrant Dish Wireless to achieve in a deployment of a 5G network after ratifying earlier work.

The FCC gave Dish Wireless six months to conduct drives tests to prove its network can deliver minimum downlink data rates of 35Mb/s across at least 70 per cent of the US population.

Dish Wireless is required to achieve the data rates under “ordinary” usage conditions.

The operator’s drive test methodology was approved by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, the Office of Economics and Analytics and the Office of General Counsel.

Jeff Blum, EVP of external and legislative affairs for parent Dish Network, stated the operator looked forward “to demonstrating compliance with the single remaining 5G commitment” and to expanding its “coverage and service offerings to provide competition in the wireless market as the nation’s fourth facilities-based carrier”.

The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau confirmed last week Dish Wireless had met a commitment to deploy more than 15,000 5G sites and another involving offering at least an average of 30MHz of spectrum in the downlink over all its sites.