With some master tower space lease agreements in hand, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen
sounds more committed than ever to making DISH a facilities-based IoT, 5G network provider.
He’s in start-up mode. Ergen said that while incumbents do a great job of connecting 300 million
people …, the future is going to be in connecting 300 billion … sensors and machines and
microprocessors.
“For me it’s not a job,” he said. “It’s not going to change my standard of living one way or the other.
It’s a hobby. When it’s a hobby you get up every day excited about it.” He was being interviewed by
former FCC commissioner Robert McDowell at the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Connect
Expo in Charlotte, N.C. Wednesday (May 23).
