T-Mobile US and Sprint are one step closer to becoming one. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its full report on the deal it formally approved by a 3-2 vote three weeks ago and outlined some changes it made regarding deadlines for Dish Network’s spectrum licenses.

The complicated three-party transaction has been delayed amid an ongoing legal challenge filed by a group of state attorneys general that want to block the merger. Dish has vast amounts of unused spectrum and is slated to gain more, including prepaid customers, if T-Mobile US’ proposed merger with Sprint goes through.

But Dish faces near-term deadlines to begin using its long-held spectrum, and the FCC has now formally provided the operator with an extension that pushes its first deadline from March 2020 to June 2023. Dish has agreed to deploy 5G service that reaches at least 70% of the U.S. population by then and is committing to download speeds of at least 35 Mb/s.

“The framework established by the FCC will facilitate and accelerate Dish’s entry as a new nationwide facilities-based provider,” said Jeff Blum, SVP of public policy and government affairs at Dish, in a prepared statement.

“Our goal is to spur competition and drive America’s leadership in 5G, all to the benefit of American consumers and industry,” Blum said. “We share the [FCC’s] 5G goals and are prepared to transform the U.S wireless market by building the nation’s first virtualized standalone 5G network. This will spark investment, deliver value to consumers, and enable the technologies of tomorrow.”

T-Mobile US and Sprint have also committed to deploy 5G service that covers 97% of the U.S. population within three years and 99% by 2025. Per an agreement that was reached with the Department of Justice in July, Dish will have access to T-Mobile US and Sprint’s combined network for seven years, effectively propping it up to provide service and attract customers while it builds its own network.

The deal that T-Mobile US and Sprint reached 18 months ago has faced ongoing delays, and although a trial date is set for the operators and state attorneys general to argue their case on Dec. 9, both operators say they remain confident that the deal will close in early 2020. Sprint’s business has continued to decline in the interim and its prospects as a standalone company are dubious.

FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, the two Democrats on the panel, are opposed to the deal — arguing it will reduce competition, lead to higher prices, and result in poorer service for America’s most vulnerable residents.

“The harm to competition caused by this transaction will not be cured by the parties’ commitments of future performance. These commitments not only suffer from serious infirmities but will do little to preserve, let alone enhance, competition,” Starks wrote in a dissenting statement. “I have little confidence that these commitments will protect competition and result in deployment of 5G services beyond what might have occurred in the absence of a merger.”

Rosenworcel also argues that Dish’s $10 billion estimate for building its nationwide 5G network “does not seem serious,” adding that Verizon already spends $15 billion per year to maintain its existing network. Dish recently announced plans to launch commercial 5G service in an undetermined number of markets by the end of 2020, and it is soliciting proposals from vendors, systems integrations, and other companies that want to bid for contracts to help it build the network.

“Like Sprint, Dish also is highly leveraged with significant debt maturing soon. Yet nothing in the FCC decision even discusses Dish’s financial capability to build the network it has promised,” Rosenworcel wrote in her dissenting statement. “This is an especially striking omission given the attention those who support this decision have given to noting Sprint’s financial challenges.”

Under the current terms of the agreement, she argues that Dish “might be better off sticking to operation as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Under these circumstances the company would simply profit from whatever arbitrage opportunity is handed to them via a regulated resale agreement and then sell its spectrum at a later date instead of investing billions to compete with the largest operators and building a facilities-based 5G network from scratch.”

The only thing preventing Dish from taking that route is a $2.2 billion financial penalty that it committed to in a letter to the FCC, but Rosenworcel concludes “that penalty may just be the cost of doing business. After all, the penalty sounds de minimis when compared to the upwards of $10 billion Dish projects it will need to fully build out this network.”

Those figures don’t even take into account the $5 billion that Dish has agreed to pay T-Mobile US to acquire a narrow slice of 800 MHz spectrum and roughly 9.3 million prepaid customers from Sprint.

FCC Chair Ajit Pai remains convinced that the deal is in the public’s best interest, arguing that it will advance American leadership in 5G, increase coverage in rural communities, and elevate competition in the broadband market.