Dish 1 Billion Debt Offering

[nelson61]

Well, Nelson, what's the scuttlebut over there? I personally favor Mike's idea of upping the ante on Clearwire. Even if Dish doesn't get it, they force Sprint to pay more. Serves Sprint right IMHO after complaining about interference with Dish's current spectrum holdings.

They said Dish is not like the west coasters that press their tee shirts and go out looking for money for some new idea. Said Dish just brings a pile of CASH and does something. Said one of the wireless takeover votes is in the next week of so and Dish may intend to wave more money in front of the stockholders (can't remember which one).

 

[Tampa8]

Quite frankly Dish could be the best thing that has happened to cellular service in the US. No one has appeared willing to offer cheap internet to the home service to America. This is about rural homes. AT&T and VZ want to replace DSL with $10/GByte cellular service. If Dish can come in and offer significantly lower cost it could disrupt their plans.

Make no mistake, this is about rural America, where Dish is king. In the larger cities, Dish cannot compete with cable broadband. Yes, Dish will cover large cities with their service, but it will not be very well received compared to the rural areas where they compete against slow DSL, expensive cellular or hyper expensive satellite.

That's the best explanation of what this means I have seen. I think some people misunderstand "Rural." I don't consider where I am in Eastern Ct. strictly rural, yet we face exactly what true rural areas face, no real competition for internet service unless you go to Satellite. The areas that are not cities is where Dish (or someone) could really compete in and is larger than some may think.

 

[mike123abc]

Another interesting wrinkle...

Dish as been buying up Lightsquared Debt. You might remember Lightsquared from the controversial GPS interference. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324100904578402641353920834.html Subscription, but using google search allows a free reading.

Sound Point Capital Management LP, a hedge-fund firm run by one of Mr. Ergen's former bankers, has been buying up LightSquared debt and now holds more than $600 million of the wireless company's roughly $1.7 billion bank loan, said people familiar with the trades.

It is unclear whether Mr. Ergen or his company, satellite-television operator Dish Network Corp., DISH +0.87% has played a role in Sound Point's trading. Mr. Ergen hasn't addressed the trades, and the company declined to comment.

The position gives Sound Point, which holds roughly $1.8 billion in assets, greater influence over LightSquared's bankruptcy proceedings and the potential to try to wrest control of the case from Mr. Falcone, the company's main backer through his hedge-fund firm, Harbinger Capital Partners. The trades, some occurring as recently as last week, have piqued the interest of those involved with Mr. Falcone's efforts to rework LightSquared's finances, as they try to determine Sound Point's motives.

Dish taking over Lightsquared is interesting, although their spectrum is of limited use due to GPS interference, their tower agreements may be of some use.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Other speculation is that Dish could join the MetroPCS/T-Mobile deal.

Yea, that would suit Dish perfectly buying a 3rd world cellular phone provider.

Verizon, ATT and Sprint are the ones to go after or partner with.

 

[Mochuf]

Yea, that would suit Dish perfectly buying a 3rd world cellular phone provider.

Verizon, ATT and Sprint are the ones to go after or partner with.

T-Mobile is owned by the German phone company, hardly a third world partner. And honestly, why would any of the "Big 3" partner with Dish? It's in their best interest for Dish not to find a partner and then have to give up their spectrum. Dish/T-Mobile could actually vault over Sprint and become a real challenger (at least compared to Sprint) to Verizon and ATT.

I know you hate Dish, and have good reasons to hate them. But no way could Dish make a deal with Verizon, ATT or Sprint without getting screwed. And a deal like that, would actually make cell service in this country worse.

 

[Stargazer]

Dish is small beans compared to the big three. No way Dish will ever take over any of the top three. Everyone beyond that there is a chance. Maybe Dish needs to do something different. They should have gotten into the cellular game 5 or so years ago.