Dish Network was tipped to have seen off competition from Altice USA and Comcast in a race to acquire assets from Sprint and T-Mobile US being offered as part of the pair’s bid to secure approval for a merger.
Sources told Bloomberg Dish Network could fork out $6 billion for spectrum and Sprint prepay brand Boost Mobile. The assets are among a number of concessions [1] the merger hopefuls have made in an attempt to persuade authorities to pass their divisive deal.
A deal could be finalised this week, Bloomberg added.
Last week the news agency stated Dish Network was one of three bidders preferred [2] by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
Dish Network provides satellite TV services and has regularly voiced its intent [3] to push into the wireless space, deploying an NB-IoT network and eventually turning its attention to 5G services.
While chairman of regulator the Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai has come out in favour of the merger, DoJ officials [4] and a number of individual states are less keen [5].
The all stock deal, worth $26 billion, was announced in April 2018 and was originally slated for completion “no later” than the first half of 2019. However, the approval process was delayed by a 35-day US government shutdown at the turn of the year.
[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/fcc-chief-backs-t-mobile-sprint-merger/[2] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/doj-erring-toward-experience-in-boost-sale/
[3] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/dish-outlines-two-phase-mobile-strategy/
[4] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/doj-mulls-more-conditions-for-sprint-t-mobile-merger/
[5] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/states-move-to-block-t-mobile-sprint-deal/
