Dish Network is once again leaning on software partner Mavenir as the company builds out its 5G network. The greenfield operator today announced it would deploy Mavenir's rich communications service (RCS) and messaging-as-a-service technologies to bolster its 5G services offerings.

According to Dish, the software will provide customers with a rich voice and multimedia messaging capabilities built on a scalable cloud-native architecture. Additionally, Dish plans to roll out artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots using Mavenir's technology to provide customer support.

"Mavenir is already playing an important role in our RAN [radio access network] software, and with this agreement, we now look to them for messaging services, and beyond," said Marc Rouanne, EVP and chief network officer at Dish, in a statement.

To Rouanne's, point, Dish penned a multi-year deal with Mavenir in April to deploy its cloud-native OpenRAN software stack across its network.

"The open and intelligent architecture of our greenfield network will give us the ability to source a diverse technology ecosystem, including U.S.-based solution providers," Rouanne said, at the time.

Dish has moved quickly to fill the shoes as the U.S.'s newest cellular carrier in the wake of T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint. Despite its speed, the company has run up against some roadblocks along the way.

On the company's third-quarter 2020 earnings call earlier this month, Charlie Ergen, chairman and co-founder of Dish, admitted that his goal of activating 5G in a single U.S. market would not come to pass in 2020.

"We'll have some preliminary small markets in the first quarter (of 2021), but it'll be the third quarter before we have a major market up and running that the world can touch and feel a little bit to see what we're doing," he said at the time.

The delay is due in part to the availability of Fujitsu's Open RAN radios, which won't become available until Q3 2021. The radios are important to Dish's open RAN strategy as they support all the spectrum bands that Dish currently has access to and plans to acquire.

Meeting objectives will be critical if Dish hopes to meet the FCC's coverage requirements, which state the carrier must cover 20% of the U.S. population by June 2022 and 50% of the population by June 2023.