EchoStar has won a contract extension from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for an open RAN-based private 5G network across several military installations, marking a coveted customer win for the company.
The award recognizes the continued deployment of standalone (SA) 5G networks using open RAN components at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) in Hawaii and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) in Washington. He said that it was awarded to him.
The goal of the project is to help the Department of Defense evaluate the resiliency of 5G applications and LEO and GEO satellite communications for military use cases.
EchoStar said it won its first Department of Defense contract for NASWI in 2021, followed by an additional expansion with Huawei a year later.
EchoStar says its latest agreement runs through 2025 and promises “further enhancements to 5G.”
EchoStar satellite subsidiary Hughes is the prime contractor for the Department of Defense deployment. This includes network elements such as wireless access, edge clouds, packet processing cores, and “zero trust architectures.”
The multivendor ecosystem also includes Cisco transport routers, switches, and firewalls. Dell Technologies Computing Infrastructure. RAN gear from JMA Wireless. Intel’s Edge Cloud Stack and Intel Xeon Processors. Site survey and network installation services provided by Boingo Wireless.
The deployment uses EchoStar’s 5G spectrum previously acquired through its merger with Dish Network this year.
EchoStar did not disclose the value of the deal. The company is struggling to survive after building its own greenfield, open RAN-based commercial 5G network.
Earlier this month, auditors said in an SEC filing that there were “significant questions about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern” and that they expected the company to “use significant amounts of cash over the next 12 months.” emphasized.
January, EchoStar sSubsidiary Dish Wireless wins $50 million contract from another company U.S. government agency to build open RAN test center in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
