Why Dish Network wants to buy Sprint

The satellite TV provider is now locked in a $26 billion fight with Japan's Softbank for America's No. 3 cell phone company

Sprint
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

It's not much of a mystery why Japanese telecom Softbank wants to buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. cell phone provider. After all, the U.S. market is huge, and Japan's is saturated. And from Sprint's point of view, the potential partnership is all about keeping up with America's dominant top two wireless companies, Verizon and AT&T.

It's less immediately obvious why Dish Networks, the satellite TV pioneer, went public today with a $25.5 billion offer for Sprint, upping Softbank's pending bid by 13 percent, according to Dish.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.