Charlie Ergen of Dish Network and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Corp. have been engaged in a billionaire duel in trying to enter the US wireless market. However, Dish Network won a round against SoftBank after Clearwire Corp. has endorsed the US$4.40 bid per share from Dish this week.
SoftBank Corp has been vying with Dish to acquire Sprint and pursue its US expansion plan.
Separately this week, Sprint Nextel Corp agreed to a US$21.6 billion takeover offer from SoftBank. The company rejected a higher offer from Dish stating the deal as not "actionable". According to BTIG analyst, Walt Piecyk, if Dish Network is able to get the portion of Clearwire that Sprint does not have ownership, it could force the carrier to reconsider whether SoftBank is indeed its best suitor. He also added that without full control over Clearwire and its airwaves, Sprint won't be able to execute its plan for a fourth generation network.
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