American satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. is considering making a bid for T-Mobile US Inc. next year, sources told Reuters.
According to the report, this would be Dish's second attempt in as many years at acquiring a major wireless operator. This would also potentially set the stage for a new bidding war with Japan's SoftBank Corp.
Dish lost out to Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank in its attempt to buy Sprint Corp. several months ago. The satellite TV provider has since been sizing up T-Mobile US as a takeover candidate. Dish has talked to T-Mobile US majority owner Deutsche Telekom AG about the potential deal, Reuters sources said.
Dish chairman Charlie Ergen is looking to expand the company he founded beyond the mature pay TV market. Ergen also wants to put to work the billions of dollars in wireless spectrum he's amassed in the past few years, the report said.
Sprint is also mulling a takeover of T-Mobile and could make a bid in the first half of 2014, said Wall Street Journal in a report last week. Dish had not yet decided whether to move forward with a bid. It does not, however, intend to sit on the sidelines if Sprint does bid for T-Mobile, wrote Reuters.
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