Research company MoffettNathanson continued to warn Dish Network faced struggles in building a sustainable mobile business, despite conceding the operator appeared to be on track to meet a requirement to cover 70 per cent of the US population by June.

In a research note, analyst Craig Moffett highlighted Dish Network looked to be on track with its site count to meet the coverage target.

The operator last week told the Securities and Exchange Commission it had commenced construction on more than 15,000 5G sites which would cover 60 per cent of the population.

Moffett argued “an even bigger lift will be required” for Dish Network to meet a goal of 75 per cent coverage in the 600MHz band and a 70 per cent requirement in 700MHz, “H-block” and AWS-4 bands “in each licence area, rather than nationally, by June 2025”.

The research company stated Dish Network’s long-term financial position “strikes us as weak” and compared it with Clearwire, a US operator eventually sold to Sprint.

Moffett highlighted a favourable MVNO agreement with AT&T, its range of spectrum bands and the potential for a legacy-free business model as positives which could lower operating costs, but maintained “the challenges it faces appear steep”.

“The history of wireless start-ups in the US is poor, and the company’s targets, consumer and enterprise, strike us as overly ambitious”.

Dish Network raised $1.5 billion in its latest funding round, adding to $2 billion in November 2022.