There have been many reports of Dish debating a potential acquisition of T-Mobile U.S. and the latest from Bloomberg suggests that Dish honcho Charlie Ergen has reached out to Deutsche Telekom for precisely this purpose. Deutsche Telekom is the majority stakeholder in T-Mobile U.S. It is still open to a sale even though the expected merger with Sprint fell through.
Ergen reportedly approached Deutsche Telekom after T-Mobile and Sprint’s talks about a merger broke down last month. People familiar with the matter claim that so far Dish has not submitted a formal bid, it shouldn’t waste any more time if its really interested though. French telco Iliad also has its eyes on T-Mobile, and while its initial bid was rejected, its rumored to be joining forces with private equity groups for an increased bid.
Deutsche Telekom itself said recently that a T-Mobile U.S. sale is not off the cards if the bid is high enough for them to consider. Iliad initial bid came in at $33 per share, DT is reportedly looking for a bid that’s higher than $35 per share.
The scribe won’t say if Dish is serious about a deal, but it is expected that the company might go for a deal after the November auction for wireless spectrum goes through. It remains to be seen what regulators would have to say about a potential merger between Dish and T-Mobile, but before we ponder on that, lets just wait for Dish to place a bid first.