NEW YORK — Dish Network’s Charlie Ergen recently contacted Deutsche Telekom to say he is interested in a future acquisition of its T-Mobile US unit, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Ergen, who made the approach after Deutsche Telekom’s talks to combine T-Mobile with Sprint broke down last month, hasn’t made any formal offer, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversations were private. He has told Deutsche Telekom — which also received an offer from France’s Iliad — that he’d be open to the idea in the coming months, they said.
Dish, the Douglas County-based satellite-TV provider, has told Deutsche Telekom, which owns about two-thirds of T-Mobile, that it may be interested in a deal after a November auction for wireless airwaves is completed, said the people. Dish hasn’t formally hired a bank to advise it on a T-Mobile takeover, and it’s still unclear if the company is serious about a deal, the people said.
Ergen, the co-founder of Dish, has spoken with Deutsche Telekom for several years about this deal, two people said.
Deutsche Telekom has rejected Iliad’s bid of about $15 billion for a 56.6 percent stake in T-Mobile, and Iliad is seeking a partner to help it make a higher offer, people familiar with the matter have said.
