Benzinga | Jun 17, 2021 07:25AM EDT

Dish, Dell To Collaborate Over US 5G Network Building: Reuters

* DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) will collaborate with Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL) for critical parts of the new 5G network building in the U.S., Reuters reports.

* Dell will provide DISH with computer servers positioned at the cell tower bottom or nearby to crunch data to minimize centralization delays.

* DISH has committed to cover 70% of the U.S. population with its network by mid-2023 and will launch its first 5G service in Las Vegas, Nevada, later in 2021.

* DISH is building its network from scratch under Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN). O-RAN uses software to run network functions on standardized computing hardware instead of buying all the gear in the network from Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) or Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

* DISH can integrate hardware and services from different vendors.

* DISH previously announced deals with Fujitsu Ltd (OTC:FJTSF) (OTC:FJTSY) for cell-tower gear and Amazon.com Inc's (NASDAQ:AMZN) cloud computing services Amazon Web Services.

* This week, Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ:VOD) collaborated with Dell to build Europe's first O-RAN 5G network.

* Price action: DISH shares closed higher by 2.66% at $41.23 on Wednesday.