Dish Network, a telecommunications company, faced a challenging first quarter as it experienced a significant decline in subscribers. The company lost 81,000 wireless customers and 552,000 pay-TV subscribers during the period.
Profits were also down, totaling $223 million compared to $433 million in the same quarter of the previous year, while revenues fell short of Wall Street expectations by approximately $100 million.
Despite these setbacks, Dish is actively working on expanding its 5G network. The company reported that it had started construction on more than 18,000 5G cellular sites as of March 2023 and aims to provide 5G broadband service to over 70% of the U.S. population.
Dish’s wireless business unit is also in discussions with CONX Corp., potentially involving a transaction regarding the company’s retail wireless division.
In addition to the subscriber losses and financial challenges, Dish faced a cybersecurity attack in February. Although no customer databases were breached, certain employee-related records and a limited number of other records containing personal information were extracted.
The company has taken steps to protect the affected data and confirmed that it has been deleted. Dish estimates incurring around $30 million in cybersecurity-related expenses during the quarter for remediation and enhanced customer support.
