Dish eyeing T-Mobile for possible 2014 acquisition bid, report says
Dish is reportedly eyeing T-Mobile US as a potential acquisition target for 2014, reports Reuters, which spoke to sources familiar with the matter.
If that's the case, Dish could be face-to-face with Sprint in a bidding war, which has reportedly also looked at making a punt for the cellular giant — the same company it briefly and ultimately unsuccessfully tried to buy earlier this year.
While Sprint found a friend in Japan's Softbank, which acquired a 70 percent stake in the company, T-Mobile also found a friend in MetroPCS, which it merged with for $1.5 billion.
But now Dish, not content with not owning a cellular firm of its own, may want to take a stab at T-Mobile instead.
Dish chairman Charlie Ergen is reportedly looking to expand the company he founded beyond television, and wants to plow new resources into the cellular market. It wouldn't be such a bad idea considering Dish has amassed billions of dollars worth of spectrum over the past few years.
Dish, Sprint, and T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom declined to comment to Reuters, which first broke the story.