Why DISH should be negotiating with Clearwire rather than bidding for Sprint

Commentators have questioned whether the leverage inherent in DISH’s bid for Sprint – for what is a considerably larger company – will constrain the ability of a merged Sprint/DISH to invest in the Sprint network and implement plans to provide seamless mobile access to subscription TV content (based around DISH’s Sling and Hopper technology), and a plan to offer fixed wireless broadband to the estimated 40 million households that lack access to high bandwidth fiber or cable networks. Further, many expect that Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, will outbid Ergen – despite his protestations to the contrary. Ergen’s vision for DISH’s future is bold and exciting, but the question ultimately is whether Sprint is crucial to achieving it, and whether it can even work without Clearwire. So the question is, might SoftBank agree to sell part of Clearwire’s spectrum to DISH, in exchange for DISH agreeing to withdraw its bid for Sprint? That would certainly be logical, but with two billionaires’ egos at stake, it’s never a given that the most rational outcome will prevail. [Farrar is president of Telecom, Media and Finance Associates]