Dish Network has said it cannot afford to acquire T-Mobile's 800MHz spectrum assets.

In an SEC filing, Dish's parent company EchoStar revealed it's unable to fund the purchase of the spectrum for the agreed $3.59 billion price.

“Due to the relatively short time remaining before the 800MHz purchase option’s expiration on April 1, 2024, we no longer believe it is a probability that we will exercise the option. Therefore, we reduced the probability-weighted value of the spectrum option to zero,” said the company.

Dish had been granted an extension until April 1, paying a $100 million extension fee.

As part of T-Mobile's merger and acquisition of Sprint in 2020, the operator agreed to sell its 800MHz spectrum to Dish.

Dish was due to purchase the spectrum by August 2023, but requested a 10-month extension (from August 31), through the courts and the US Department of Justice, to exercise its option to buy the spectrum, citing it needs more time to raise the funds.

T-Mobile disputed the extension request, claiming that the request for an extension was “unfair" to the company and “contrary to the public interest.”

Dish has been making cutbacks in the last few months, and axed more than 500 jobs in Colorado in November, amid its merger with satellite operator EchoStar.

Both companies, which are owned by billionaire Charles Ergen, will reunite after EchoStar was spun out from Dish back in 2008.

An additional 157 jobs will go by the end of this month.

Dish has invested heavily in its 5G mobile network, and launched its virtualized RAN 5G network with the support of South Korean vendor Samsung last year.

In June of last year, Dish said it reached its 5G broadband coverage target set by the Federal Communications Commission, providing services to more than 70 percent of the US population.