US satellite provider Dish is reportedly retracting a bid worth $2.2 billion for bankrupt wireless provider LightSquared. The Wall Street Journal says that Dish, who bid for LightSquared in May last year, could confirm the termination of the offer this week.

Dish, better known for its satellite TV service, has spent the last two years trying to diversify its services and become a true ISP. It bid for LightSquared in May of 2013, primarily to gain access to its spectrum, after a series of unsuccessful corporate maneuvers. The satellite company attempt to buy US carrier Sprint in 2013, but was beaten out by Japanese giant Softbank. The compan …

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Dish's attempts to disrupt Sprint's buyout with SoftBank may not have come to fruition, but apparently that doesn't mean the two companies can't make up and sign a deal. The two are teaming up to test out broadband service that pick ups wireless signals from Sprint's 4G LTE network and delivers them into homes. The service will use both indoor and outdoor routers that tap into Sprint's 2.5 GHz signal, putting high speed data services in places that might have been previously unavailable. The trial begins in Corpus Christi, Texas next year, and will be extended to other cities after that.

Starting in Texas, then headed elsewhere

Sprint and Dis …

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Sprint just announced that it has successfully completed its purchase of Clearwire - its final, best offer of $5 per share was accepted, and the transaction has been closed as of today. This comes just one day after SoftBank and Sprint announced their merger would be complete on July 10th and less than a week since the FCC gave both deals its blessing. Sprint was already a majority shareholder in Clearwire, but now the carrier - and thus Sprint's new owner, SoftBank - now owns 100 percent of the company. It's a key acquisition for Sprint, as the carrier plans to use Clearwire's spectrum to continue building out its LTE network.

This week's …

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The Sprint, Dish, Clearwire, and SoftBank acquisition saga may be close to over. Dish has withdrawn its offer to purchase Clearwire, according to a press release pushed across the wire this afternoon. The satellite television company last bid $4.40 per share, but Sprint's latest offer of $5 per share - enough to earn the backing of Clearwire's board - has apparently convinced Dish to give up on this particular opportunity. Sprint, meanwhile, is in the middle of being acquired by Japan's SoftBank after Dish's own discussions to purchase the Kansas-based carrier fell through earlier this month.

It's unclear if today's news marks an end of Dis …

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It looks like at least one facet of the drama between Sprint, Clearwire, and Dish will soon be coming to a close: Sprint has just submitted another increased bid to purchase the remaining shares of Clearwire that it doesn't already own. Sprint has been trying to acquire Clearwire since last December, but Dish swooped in and started a bidding war with its own offer in January. More recently, Sprint upped its bid and called it its "best and final offer," but Dish quickly responded with an improved offer of its own and appears to have forced Sprint's hand. Now, Sprint will offer $5 per share to acquire Clearwire - up significantly from the "bes …

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Dish Network has pulled out of the competition to buy third-place US wireless carrier Sprint after months of back-and-forth with competitor SoftBank. After seeing the Japanese operator table a buyout offer in October 2012, Dish countered with its own surprise bid in April, leading to some heated exchanges in the media. Reuters reports that Dish will instead focus on acquiring Clearwire Corp. The company issued a statement on its change of plans in the form of a press release, the full text of which is below:

"While DISH continues to see strategic value in a merger with Sprint, the decisions made by Sprint to prematurely terminate our due di …

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As Friday's shareholder vote approaches, the competition for Clearwire's spectrum continues to heat up, with Dish upping its bid to $4.40 a share in cash - nearly a third higher than Sprint's $3.40 bid from just last week, reports The Wall Street Journal. But while Dish is throwing out the higher dollar figure, the would-be deal is muddled by the fact that Sprint already owns half of Clearwire, and has had a standing agreement to buy the remainder since last year. As The Wall Street Journal points out, any deal would require Sprint to sign off, and while the financial incentives could make it worthwhile in the short term, Sprint and its pote …

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Satellite television provider Dish has been making moves to launch a terrestrial LTE wireless network for years, including a $25.5 billion bid for wireless carrier Sprint. According to a report from Bloomberg, Dish isn't putting all of its bets on the Sprint deal, however, as it has put in a $2 billion bid to purchase the spectrum owned by bankrupt LightSquared.

LightSquared famously went bankrupt in 2012 after the Federal Communications Commission initially approved and then later denied its application to use the L-band satellite spectrum it owned for a land-based LTE network. The FCC said that the spectrum was too close to what was being …

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