DENVER – Dish Network’s attempt to enter the 5G mobile telecom space may be up in the air, but a company executive this week said that if it does happen it will be entering that space at a very fortuitous time.

Tom Cullen, EVP of sales, programming, and marketing at Dish Network, told attendees at this week’s 5G: Futures event put on by industry trade association CTIA, that it’s not often that a company can enter a business at “an inflection point” that is 5G. He explained that this ability to launch a greenfield network near the beginning of a technology cycle provides the carrier with a significant advantage against its legacy — and substantially larger — rivals.

Cullen said it was still the “top of the first,” using a baseball reference to note that the market was still in early days. But he did add that he expects that to “change a lot over the next 18 months.”

He also noted that the company was currently in vendor discussions, with its earliest deployment plans not set to start until the middle of next year. While many of its larger rivals will be nearing “nationwide” 5G deployments by that time, Cullen said that it will take some time for 5G technology to fully mature. “You can’t wait for it to be perfect because it’s always changing,” he said.

Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen earlier this year highlighted the company’s 5G network plans, which will be heavily reliant on software and virtualization. That path is being initially laid by Japan’s Rakuten, though there are rumors that those plans are not going as smoothly as hoped.

Cullen also emphasized that 5G will include more than just millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum, specifically pointing to his company’s plans to use its extensive sub-6 GHz spectrum. Those lower spectrum bands provide better reach from each cell site that is transmitting a 5G signal for better coverage, though there is less spectrum available in those lower bands that will result in slower speeds compared with the mmWave bands.

Despite Dish Network’s 5G plans being linked to the uncertainty surrounding T-Mobile US’ acquisition of Sprint, Cullen said the company was in discussions with several enterprises. He explained that their ability to package connectivity into those platforms means “the return on investment capital is evident and it will accelerate.”

Photo (L-R): Nick Ludlum, SVP and Chief Communications Officer, CTIA; Roger Entner, Founder and Lead Analyst, Recon Analytics; Doug Brake, Director of Broadband and Spectrum Policy, ITIF; Daniel Feldman, Managing Director for Strategy and Network Partnership Development, Verizon; Tom Cullen, EVP of Sales, Marketing, and Programming, Dish Network.