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Dish Network is reportedly pulling its bid for LightSquared, the wireless service provider mired in bankruptcy protection.
The satellite TV provider, which had apparently sought LightSquared’s wireless spectrum, offered $2.2 billion for the company last year. However, LightSquared’s special committee has decided to negotiate a deal with private-equity firm Centerbridge Partners, which last month offered $3.3 billion for the wireless company.
Dish is expected to make the termination of its offer official as early as Thursday, according to the Wall Street Journal. CNET has contacted Dish for comment on the matter and will update this report when we learn more.
LightSquared, which had planned to build a nationwide wireless broadband network using wireless spectrum that had originally been allocated for satellite use, filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2012 after the FCC blocked the company’s plans to build its wireless broadband network. The GPS industry had lobbied aggressively against LightSquared, claiming the company’s technology interfered with GPS navigation technology.
When the Federal Communications Commission suspended its waiver to use the spectrum for a terrestrial network, rather than a satellite service, the company was largely written off for dead. Not long after the FCC decision, LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja, who was brought in to give the business a measure of credibility, stepped down.
LightSquared controls wireless spectrum that could have been valuable to Dish, which has won approval from the Federal Communications Commission to build its own LTE network. Dish announced a partnership last month with Sprint to deliver wireless broadband to areas that may otherwise be out of the loop.
