Dish Network has formally sought regulator intervention, specifically suspension of the review of the bid provided by Softbank Corp of Japan for the acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp. The reason for such request is that Dish claims its bid would be safer for national security reasons.
Dish previously had asked the Federal Communications Commission for such an injunction order. In its filing, the TV satellite provider had further supported its request, claiming its unsolicited bid amounting to US$25.5 billion is far superior than other claims. It is also asking that FCC withold its ruling on the Softbank-Sprint merger until such time that the Sprint board responds to its proposal.
For its part, Sprint spokesman John Taylor declined to provide a comment. Even when Sprint had already agreed to the offer from Softbank, it is now considering the bid from Dish.
According to Dish's filing, "Dish's merger proposal is better for American consumers, better for Sprint shareholders and better for national security than the Softbank proposal."
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