US pay-TV provider Dish Network has made an unsolicited bid for wireless carrier Clearwire, beating an offer from Clearwire's majority shareholder Sprint. Dish is offering USD 3.30 per share, versus USD 2.97 from Sprint. The offer, conditional on Dish acquiring just 25 percent of Clearwire's stock, also includes an agreement for Clearwire to build and operate Dish's mobile network, Dish to acquire some of Clearwire's spectrum and new financing for Clearwire.
Dish has been made little secret of its interest in setting up its own mobile network in the US and in recent months has been rumoured to be in talks to acquire a number of smaller operators. It has its own spectrum holdings, but access to Clearwire's extensive frequencies would give it a much greater footprint.
Clearwire said it held talks with Dish already, prior to agreeing the Sprint offer, and a special board committee will consider the new offer from the company. The company will hold off on taking any of the new financing promised by Sprint until the Dish offer is evaluated.
