Colorado is dropping out of a multi-state lawsuit  that opposed the billion-dollar Sprint/T-Mobile merger, on the heels of an announcement Monday that several telecom companies will  retain jobs and improve efforts to bring the fastest 5G service to Colorado, especially in rural areas.

Under the agreement, announced by the Attorney General’s office, Douglas County-based Dish Network  will locate its wireless headquarters at its Riverfront facility in Littleton for the next seven years. According to a statement, Dish will also employ a “minimum of 2,000 full-time employees working primarily on wireless at Dish facilities in Colorado including Riverfront, and their Inverness and Meridian facilities in Englewood. In addition, Colorado will be among the first 10 states where Dish plans to deploy 5G broadband services by 2023.”

Dish faces up to $20 million in penalties if it does not meet its commitments to the state, the statement said.

The Attorney General’s office signed onto a multi-state lawsuit in June, led by the attorneys general of New York and California, that sought to block a $26.5 billion merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. The Justice Department approved that merger in July; the Federal Communications Commission approved it last week. Dish has agreed to acquire the two companies’ prepaid business and obtain access to T-Mobile’s network, which at $5 billion would make it the fourth largest nationwide carrier, the Attorney General’s office said.

Eventually, 17 states joined in the lawsuit. Mississippi dropped out two weeks ago after reaching a similar deal with Sprint and T-Mobile. The states of Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota all have voiced support for the merger.

Colorado joined that lawsuit because of concerns over how the merger, first proposed five years ago, would affect Coloradans, according to Chief Deputy Attorney General Natalie Hanlon Leh. “The agreements we are announcing today address those concerns by guaranteeing jobs in Colorado, a statewide buildout of a fast 5G network that will especially benefit rural communities, and low-cost mobile plans. Our announcement today ensures Coloradans will benefit from Dish’s success as a nationwide wireless competitor.”

The separate agreement with T-Mobile requires the company to deploy a 5G network in Colorado, making Colorado one of the first states in the nation with full 5G access. That means download speeds of at least 100 Megabytes per second (Mbps) for at least 68 percent of state’s population within three years, and 92 percent of the state with access to 100 Mbps within six years. The federal minimum standard for downloading is 25 Mbps.

For rural communities, T-Mobile has committed to making sure at least 60 percent of the rural population has that 100 Mbps download speed within three years, and 74 percent within six years. 

In 2018, the Colorado General Assembly restructured the state’s High Cost Support Mechanism, a fund that helps telecom companies pay for providing rural broadband service. As part of that legislation, the state set a minimum standard for broadband at 10 Mbps for download service. 

T-Mobile also committed to offering two new low-priced plans in Colorado: unlimited talk, text and 2Gb of data for $15 or less per month, and unlimited talk, text and 5GB of data for $25 or less per month. The company faces $80 million in penalties if it fails to uphold its commitment. 

Leh, Solicitor General Eric Olson, and attorneys from the Colorado Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Section negotiated the agreements with Dish and T-Mobile. Attorney General Phil Weiser recused himself from the matter as he had done consulting work for the telecom industry before becoming attorney general. 

Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner praised the Attorney General’s office for dropping the lawsuit. 

“I’m glad the Colorado Attorney General’s office has decided to join me in supporting this merger,” Gardner said Monday. “I’ve been championing support for this merger at the federal level because Colorado would be home to the nation’s 4th major wireless carrier – bringing thousands more jobs to our state. Dish is ready to build a nationwide network and I will continue to support a successful merger.”