Dish Network proposes merger with Sprint Nextel for $25.5 billion

[Fraydog]

 

Verizon needs somewhere to run their CDMA for the next four or five years, so they'll need to keep either CLR or PCS.

 

Just an opinion here but, while I'd like to see PCS H head Sprint's way, they really should go for 600MHz TD-LTE.

 

By contrast, as long as T-Mobile is uninterested in rural, 600MHz isn't a big deal for them. If they bid on it, with the intention of changing their outlook a bit, I'm fine with that too. But having only one 5x5 LTE channel available in SMR certainly isn't the end-all, be-all of low frequency spectrum (even with PCS to back it up).

 

I will say though that, when T-Mobile and Sprint merge (I think it's a when rather than an if), I wouldn't mind seeing 2500 holdings sold over to Dish. That frequency is a better fit for fixed wireless, and PCS + AWS solves your mobile capacity problem on LTE with less site spacing issues than BRS/EBS. Heck, the combined entity might have enough spectrum to eke out 20x20 LTE everywhere, whether in AWS or PCS, and that's kind of phenomenal.

 

I wish Verizon would add the CDMA channel cards to their current LTE RBS and keep a quality CDMA2000 network for the next 10 years. From my usage, it really seems as if the CDMA side of their network went downhill. Voice quality in particular has went down the toilet. VZW would best take notes from Sprint in that regard.

 

Qualcomm is already throwing up red flags on TD-LTE in the 600 MHz block of spectrum allocation. T-Mobile has an interest in the 600 MHz auction and their plan is 5x5 FDD blocks. That's a lot less likely to draw the ire of Qualcomm which holds a huge amount of power of this country's spectrum policy.

 

SoftBank should keep as much spectrum as they can. Even keeping 100 MHz of Band 41 with T-Mobile would likely be positive.

[bigsnake49]

The thing that a lot of you that propose that Sprint/Clearwire keep and utilize all of the EBS/BRS spectrum is that it costs a lot of money to provide backhaul for all that spectrum. If we assume 1Gbps for a 40Mhz channel and 4GBps for 160Mhz, are you willing to pay for all that bandwidth? How is sprint going to recover all their bandwidth costs and make money? They will have to become a media company and get into all kinds of ancillary businesses just to recover costs. They will have to comptete with the cable cos which will have an advantage because of their fiber costs. Now if they buy some metro fiber loops, then the equation changes. Even before Dish some of us were advocating that Sprint leverage some of that spectrum for fiixed broadband and telematics applications.

[S4GRU]

The thing that a lot of you that propose that Sprint/Clearwire keep and utilize all of the EBS/BRS spectrum is that it costs a lot of money to provide backhaul for all that spectrum. If we assume 1Gbps for a 40Mhz channel and 4GBps for 160Mhz, are you willing to pay for all that bandwidth? How is sprint going to recover all their bandwidth costs and make money? They will have to become a media company and get into all kinds of ancillary businesses just to recover costs. They will have to comptete with the cable cos which will have an advantage because of their fiber costs. Now if they buy some metro fiber loops, then the equation changes. Even before Dish some of us were advocating that Sprint leverage some of that spectrum for fiixed broadband and telematics applications.

 

Sprint's backhaul contracts are scalable. They can add backhaul incrementally as needed. It's rather genius, actually. Everyone who signed on the dotted line for backhaul had to agree to the increased capacity in the future as needed. It's already prearranaged.

 

And it's the beauty of AAV backhaul that's fiber backed. You pay for 90Mbps now. But since it is fiber backed, it can easily be increased to 500Mbps in many places. And up to 1Gbps in some others.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[jonathanm1978]

Couple bonded pairs here and there and a card in the C.O. is all in some cases.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Ascertion]

http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/11923336/1/the-deal-dish-to-raise-25-billion-to-finance-sprint-deal.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

 

NEW YORK (TheDeal) -- Dish Network Corp. said Tuesday it planned to sell $2.5 billion in debt via a subsidiary, adding to its cash reserves ahead of its proposed $25.5 billion acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp.[/Quote]

 

Charlie getting desperate...

[nebody00]

http://www.thestreet...oo&cm_ven=YAHOO

 

 

 

Charlie getting desperate...

 

Yep, he's lining 4 banks to fund it.

 

http://www.bloomberg...sprint-bid.html

 

Even though SoftBank has been leaning on the banks not to lend to Dish or else they lose their business.

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77c60e2a-bb99-11e2-82df-00144feab7de.html#axzz2TP85pgDo

Edited May 15, 2013 by nebody00

[IamMrFamous07]

I just want to make sure, sprint has to accept Dish's offer right? Dish just can't buy sprint without its consent? I just want sprint + SoftBank to close so badly. The process has been going on for 7 months.

[PDXmike]

I just want to make sure, sprint has to accept Dish's offer right? Dish just can't buy sprint without its consent? I just want sprint + SoftBank to close so badly. The process has been going on for 7 months.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the Sprint board would need to accept the Dish offer and then recommend it to the shareholders, who would then vote on it. The SoftBank deal has already been accepted, and Sprint would be on the hook for somewhere close to $1 billion ($600M payment to SoftBank and ~$400M in transaction/legal fees) if the deal falls through, making it unlikely that Sprint will back out.

[wyndd123]

 

 

If I'm not mistaken, the Sprint board would need to accept the Dish offer and then recommend it to the shareholders, who would then vote on it. The SoftBank deal has already been accepted, and Sprint would be on the hook for somewhere close to $1 billion ($600M payment to SoftBank and ~$400M in transaction/legal fees) if the deal falls through, making it unlikely that Sprint will back out.

 

 

 

 

I sure hope so. If dish gets sprint its game over

[ChadBroChillz]

If I'm not mistaken, the Sprint board would need to accept the Dish offer and then recommend it to the shareholders, who would then vote on it. The SoftBank deal has already been accepted, and Sprint would be on the hook for somewhere close to $1 billion ($600M payment to SoftBank and ~$400M in transaction/legal fees) if the deal falls through, making it unlikely that Sprint will back out.

 

Do not forget the Sprint bondholders. They do not officially have a vote, but it would be a huge snag for the possible Sprint-Dish merger, if they refuse to amend their agreements to allow Dish to take control without triggering the forced buyback.

[JeffDTD]

 

Do not forget the Sprint bondholders. They do not officially have a vote' date=' but it would be a huge snag for the possible Sprint-Dish merger, if they refuse to amend their agreements to allow Dish to take control without triggering the forced buyback.[/quote']

 

Fantastic point. Sprint has leveraged itself to the edge of financial health. Dish's credit rating today will not be the same as Dish's credit rating after it secures the 9.5b it needs. For example, s&p's current rating on dish is BB-. S&P's rating on sprint is B+. On scale, those ratings sit right next to one another with dish as "non investment grade speculative" and sprint as "highly speculative".

 

So the question remains: How will the 9.5b affect Dish's credit rating? Its already almost a merger of equals, which terrifies me.

[Rawvega]

If/when Charlie's bid for Sprint fails, he could turn his attention to t-Mobile...

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-16/deutsche-telekom-can-sell-t-mobile-us-before-lock-up-period-ends.html?cmpid=yhoo

[JeffDTD]

Well apparently Captain Spaulding, (err...Howdy)... Ergen has been calling everyone he knows in government and begging for them to speak out against Softbank. Here we have 79 year old Utah Senator and lifetime politican Orrin Hatch deeming Softbank a "hostile power" http://www.newsmax.c...05/15/id/504608

 

Of course, Hatch hails from the pre-war days and rose in importance during the Cold War era.... He once feared holding hearings on the harmful effects of nuclear testing in fear that those hearings would reveal sensitive information to the Soviet Union and China. Most recently, he tried to amend the immigration bill to included DNA testing for all immigrants. Dashing, isn't it?

[Luuminator]

I love how japan is listed as hostile in that interview when japan has not had a fully fledged military since world war II (formal military was forbidden in their 1947 constitution). All they have is US troops and a self defense force

[ChadBroChillz]

Fantastic point. Sprint has leveraged itself to the edge of financial health. Dish's credit rating today will not be the same as Dish's credit rating after it secures the 9.5b it needs. For example, s&p's current rating on dish is BB-. S&P's rating on sprint is B+. On scale, those ratings sit right next to one another with dish as "non investment grade speculative" and sprint as "highly speculative".

 

So the question remains: How will the 9.5b affect Dish's credit rating? Its already almost a merger of equals, which terrifies me.

 

I think the bondholders trigger was what Masayoshi Son was referring to when they stated Sprint would not have enough money to finish Network Vision. Sprint would have to pay those bondholders 101% plus all the interest at once, but I believe Sprint would have a difficult time finding new banks willing to finance, when they just added 9.5 billion to their books, which likely means the money has to come from the Network Vision funds.

[Rawvega]

Charlie keeps trying. I guess he gets an A for effort...maybe.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/dish-asks-fcc-suspend-review-223135388.html

 

Dish asks FCC to suspend review of SoftBank's Sprint bid

Reuters – 21 hours ago

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) asked U.S. regulators on Thursday to stop reviewing SoftBank Corp's (9984.T) proposed acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp's (S.N), citing the Japanese company's reported attempt to thwart its bid for the U.S. wireless carrier.

 

The request follows a Reuters report on May 10 that SoftBank asked several Wall Street investment banks not to finance Dish's $25.5 billion offer for Sprint by saying such a move could hurt their chances of getting a piece of the public offering of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (ALIAB.UL). SoftBank owns 33 percent of Alibaba.

 

"If SoftBank has the power to influence crucial financing decisions of a Chinese company and enlist those decisions in the service of its effort to acquire Sprint, then the proposed foreign ownership needs to be assessed in light of this Chinese company as well," DISH said in the letter to the Federal Communications Commission.

 

"SoftBank is trying to force its offer on Sprint's shareholders by underhandedly seeking to undermine a superior bid," Dish wrote.

 

The Japanese telecom company, which has an existing agreement with Sprint to buy 70 percent of the U.S. wireless carrier for $20.1 billion, has criticized Dish's offer, saying it does not have committed financing in place.

 

Dish has lined up four banks, Barclay's Plc (BARC.L), Macquarie Group (MQG.AX), Jefferies and the Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), to help finance its proposed offer, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

 

An FCC spokesman declined to comment and Sprint could not be reached for comment.

 

A SoftBank spokesman said, "This is yet another irrelevant and unfounded filing based on unsubstantiated media reports."

 

(Reporting By Nicola Leske, additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Olivia Oran in New York and Alina Selyuk in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

[ChadBroChillz]

I wonder how many of these Ergen has filed? I think the FCC has these automatically sent to the trash by now.

[JohnHovah]

I wonder how many of these Ergen has filed? I think the FCC has these automatically sent to the trash by now.

 

I'm sure if the FCC went to GApss it would find its way to the Spam

[nebody00]

Didn't Ergen already request they suspend the FCC review? I guess he can keep spamming them...

[IamMrFamous07]

I have a strong feeling sprint and Dish are going to go through. I just think if sprint is interested in softbank I would think sprint would just tell dish they aren't interested. Maybe Softbank wants sprint to act like they are interested in Dish so dish can stop pursuing clearwire.

 

 

 

 

I just want Sprint/softbank/clearwire

 

 

If for any reason Sprint does choose Dish I'm definitely switching to tmobile

[ChadBroChillz]

They have to do their due diligence. They do not want to open themselves up to lawsuits from their shareholders for not picking the best offer. I would not worry. As long as Dish wants to fund the merger by putting debt onto Sprint's balance sheet, I believe Sprint will continue to back Softbank's offer. Sprint has to think about short term and long term value for its shareholders.   

 

 

At worse, Softbank increases its offer. Dish cannot win a bidding war with Softbank. Considering how leverage the combined company is with this offer, I do not believe they could even raise their offer. They have basically showed that LightSquared is the next option.  

 

I do think you could have a point that SprintBank is trying to get Dish away from Clearwire. I do not believe Dish will stop pursuing Clearwire, but the news could have some Clearwire shareholders doubting that a better offer will come. Dish was never going to get Clearwire without Sprint's approval, but that does not mean the minority shareholders won't draw this out. I am sure Softbank and Sprint would rather not wait until November to start their plan for Clearwire. 

 

Edit: I also do not think it was a coincidence that Sprint was granted the ability to work with Dish on their offer the day before the Clearwire Shareholder vote. 

[JohnHovah]

Sprint (S) raises its offer for Clearwire (CLWR) to $3.40/share ahead of today's shareholder...

• 
  
  Tuesday, May 21, 9:09 AM ET
  
  Sprint (S) raises its offer for Clearwire (CLWR) to $3.40/share ahead of today's shareholder vote on a $2.97/share offer, which was widely expected to be shot down. The revised offer, which trumps Dish's (DISH) $3.30/share bid and has been sent to Clearwire's board for review, is said to have the support of Comcast, Intel, and Bright House, who collectively own 26% of Clearwire shares not held by Sprint. Nonetheless, Clearwire +6.1% to $3.46, above the offer price. Sprint +1.1%. 
  

[bobbi]

 

Sprint (S) raises its offer for Clearwire (CLWR) to $3.40/share ahead of today's shareholder...

• Tuesday, May 21, 9:09 AM ET
  Sprint (S) raises its offer for Clearwire (CLWR) to $3.40/share ahead of today's shareholder vote on a $2.97/share offer, which was widely expected to be shot down. The revised offer, which trumps Dish's (DISH) $3.30/share bid and has been sent to Clearwire's board for review, is said to have the support of Comcast, Intel, and Bright House, who collectively own 26% of Clearwire shares not held by Sprint. Nonetheless, Clearwire +6.1% to $3.46, above the offer price. Sprint +1.1%. 

 

Didn't they already have the support of Comcast, Intel, and Bright House at $2,97?

[ericdabbs]

Didn't they already have the support of Comcast, Intel, and Bright House at $2,97?

 

They do but Sprint felt the need to include that statement that those 3 companies are still on board and aligned with the Sprint deal at $3.40 to Clearwire investors in hopes that they will enough votes over to approve the deal.  I think its more of a public relations thing to show that not only Sprint and Clearwire are in favor of the Sprint deal but a group of minority shareholders that make up 26% of the vote are also in favor of the Sprint deal.

 

I mean why would Comcast, Intel and Bright House say no when they will get more money.

[Fraydog]

Has Crest or Joan Lappin said anything about the revised offer?  Or are they finally going to shut up, realizing that it's in their best interest to be owners of S and SoftBank long term over Dish and their completely jacked governance structure.  

 

They will still have power under Sprint/SoftBank. Dish?  That's all Charlie's baby.