Dish Abandons Sprint in Favor of Clearwire

DISH has not submitted a new offer to buy Sprint Nextel, as per the deadline of tonight, so that means that SoftBank is the default suitor at this point.

DISH's decision has paved the road for SoftBank to take over the provider. Sprint shareholders will give final approval over the $21.6 billion offer next Tuesday.

DISH's full statement in regards to the withdrawal:

While DISH continues to see strategic value in a merger with Sprint, the decisions made by Sprint to prematurely terminate our due diligence process and accept extreme deal protections in its revised agreement with SoftBank, among other things, have made it impracticable for DISH to submit a revised offer by the June 18th deadline imposed by Sprint. We will consider our options with respect to Sprint, and focus our efforts and resources on completing the Clearwire tender offer."

 

Softbank Sees Acquiring T-Mobile as "Plan B"

Softbank is trying to trying to make an entrance into the US cellular market, but it isn't going as great as they thought as it would be. Softbank is trying to acquire Sprint. First, DISH tries to knock Softbank out of the ring to buy Sprint. In case they do get knocked out, DISH seems to be eyeing T-Mobile as a backup. According to Reuters, the Japanese are in talks with Deutsche Telekom to buy its shares of the carrier.

If Sprint shareholders reject the Softbank deal on June 12th, Big Magenta may be moving to Japan.