SBA Adds to List of DISH’s Buildout Options For 5G

 UPDATE On the same day both DISH and SBA Communications Corporation reported their annual and quarterly earnings, they also announced a new long-term master lease agreement. The deal was announced early yesterday and provides DISH access to SBA’s extensive nationwide portfolio of wireless communication sites. Details of the agreement were not made public.

The agreement follows recent arrangements with major towercos Crown Castle and Vertical Bridge. Crown’s offer includes 20,000 macro towers and its fiber services while Vertical Bridge provides locations on 300,000 sites. An additional lease agreement with seven independent towercos announced last week added 4,000 macro sites as prospective locations for DISH’s 5G network buildout.

"With the CBRS and C-band auctions now a reality in the U.S., our recently-announced master agreement with DISH, and important spectrum auctions planned for our international markets over the next two years, we believe we are on the cusp of another increase in operational activity and demand for our infrastructure likely to begin in the second half of 2021, and continue for years thereafter,” said Jeffrey Stoops, SBA's President and Chief Executive Officer.