US telco Sprint’s decision not to bid for a swathe of the country’s spectrum in January has left DTH giant Dish Network as the only large company known to have plans for the auction.
The telco had widely been expected to take part in the sale…
US telco Sprint’s decision not to bid for a swathe of the country’s spectrum in January has left DTH giant Dish Network as the only large company known to have plans for the auction.
The telco had widely been expected to take part in the sale because the 1900 MHz frequencies on offer, known as the H Block, are near spectrum it already owns.
However, CFO Joseph Euteneuer was cited saying his company would rather focus on buying frequencies that are in lower bands.
The fourth largest mobile operator in the US, T-Mobile, had earlier revealed it too had decided against bidding in the auction, which has a reserve price of US$1.564bn.
Dish has agreed with that reserve price, although it has said it needs certain rule changes on the spectrum it already owns to meaningfully participate.
Ergen says all M&A options on table
Meanwhile, Dish has once again stoked M&A rumours after saying acquiring T-Mobile US remains an option it would consider.
When asked about a T-Mobile deal during the company’s Q3 conference call, Dish co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen said: “I think acquiring a company, selling our company, merging, partnering, those are all on the table.”
The DTH firm has previously batted its eyelashes at T-Mobile and, earlier this year, tried to acquire the Sprint before it was taken over by Japan’s Softbank.
In August, Ergen described T-Mobile as its only option for an acquisition or merger to get into wireless services. For Dish, getting into wireless would be an opportunity to fully utilise its LTE spectrum.
Earlier in the summer, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said he was “intrigued” by Ergen’s vision to integrate his DTH business with a wireless operator.
This week T-Mobile disclosed it was close to acquiring spectrum from an unidentified private party. On the call Dish’s CEO declined to comment on whether it was said party.
Some analysts have also suggested there is a slim chance that the telco could wade into the auction for satellite/terrestrial venture LightSquared later this year. Dish is also after LightSquared’s spectrum assets and has already put up a US$2.2bn bid.
T-Mobile will fund its planned airwaves acquisition through a recently announced public offering of stock, through which it could raise as much as US$2bn. While the share issue has slightly lowered T-Mobile’s stock price, it still boasts a 62% increase since May following the completion of its reverse merger with MetroPCS. T-Mobile has a market capitalisation of US$19bn.
