Upstart US MNO Dish has further signalled its commitment to O-RAN technology by signing a multi-year deal with Altiostar, which specialises in that sort of thing.

Dish is one of the few examples of a company building a 5G network more or less from scratch. Free from the burden of legacy infrastructure, Dish is free to try new stuff out, such as open radio access network technology. It joins Japanese tech conglomerate Rakuten in exploring this disruptive tech and its chosen partner, while US-based, counts Rakuten as a major investor.

“By using an open architecture to build the first standalone 5G network in the U.S. we are able to work with the best vendors from across the supply chain to effectively serve multiple segments, including consumers, enterprises and emerging 5G vertical markets,” said Marc Rouanne, Dish Chief Network Officer. “Altiostar’s proven expertise in O-RAN will allow us to build an open mobile network with the automation, resilience and agility needed to deliver services that will differentiate us in the wireless market.”

“Altiostar is excited to partner with Dish and execute on their vision to build the first cloud-native, O-RAN 5G network in the U.S.,” said Ashraf Dahod, CEO of Altiostar. “As a U.S. company, we are proud to contribute our leading open vRAN technology innovation to Dish, and work with the fast growing O-RAN ecosystem to accelerate 5G leadership in the U.S.”

Altiostar joins Mavenir as a Dish O-RAN partner, the latter having been unveiled back in April. The two vendors recently announced a collaboration of their own and it’s thought that Rakuten is going to help Dish out, so they’re quite the foursome. The US government is really keen on O-RAN technology because it sees it as a way of developing domestic 5G competence, so they’ll be pleased with this news too.