No surprises here, but Dish thinks it would be best for Sprint if they bought the company, instead of Softbank. The reasons given are that the merger would happen a lot more smoothly since they are both American companies, and all of their employees speak English.
“We are an American company and the modernization of Sprint’s network will have to be done from the U.S.”
“You have to climb the towers here and you’ll have to have U.S. employees who speak English. It doesn’t mean that the other guys are bad, it’s just that we have an advantage.”
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with Dish here. They do have a point that at least from the process of the merger point of view, it would be better for Sprint to go with Dish, and they would receive more money, too (about $5 billion more). However, I believe going with Softbank will be the better deal for the consumers in the long run.
If Dish buys Sprint, we may or we may not see major changes on how Sprint competes with the other three big carriers. But chances are they won’t try to change too much, and won’t become that much more aggressive against their competitors.
If they get bought by Softbank instead, Softbank could try to implement the type of competitive strategies they are used to in Japan, and apply some outside of the box thinking in the US wireless market. That’s exactly what the US consumers need right now, to change how the carriers are (over) charging them.
Better yet, I don’t think Dish will give up trying to become a strong carrier in US, which means that not only will Softbank change the game with Sprint in US, but we’ll also get a new one (Dish), along with the “un-carrier” T-mobile. There were some rumors earlier that Dish would partner with Google for a wireless network, which could help propel them even faster to becoming that 5th carrier.
As for Sprint, even if the merger would be easier with Dish, Softbank could be better for them in the long-term, if they become a competitive carrier that consumers love. That just means more people will be signing up with them, while if Dish buys them, and nothing really changes, they could remain in the same position they are today. But if that’s the outcome, why even bother merge with anyone?
[Via Reuters]