AT&T may eye Dish or Clearwire deals next

AT&T may look to Dish Network or Clearwire for its next deal as it recovers from its failure to buy T-Mobile USA.

AT&T said its $39 billion proposal to buy T-Mobile USA was motivated solely by its spectrum shortage, so the No. 2 U.S. mobile service now needs to look for another acquisition to bolster its wireless airwaves holdings. AT&T is already seeking regulatory approval for its deal to buy a small amount of spectrum from wireless chip maker Qualcomm. Dish and Clearwire are seen as the most likely places AT&T will look for new spectrum because Dish is poised to buy a massive chunk of airwaves and Clearwire needs funding and it has large amounts of spectrum it is not using today.