Douglas County-based Dish Network Corp. is continuing slow-moving talks to acquire wireless provider T-Mobile US Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Dish CEO Charlie Ergen has spoken with T-Mobile’s controlling shareholder Deutsche Telekom AG about a deal for years and renewed those discussions in September, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time. The talks haven’t advanced substantially since then, people said Thursday, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
Both sides are still far apart in terms of expectations for a deal price and may not reach an agreement, one of the people said. Ergen has said he’s interested in T-Mobile, which has a market value of about $32 billion, describing it in February as a “company we think highly of.”
A purchase of T-Mobile would give Ergen a national wireless network over which it could deliver mobile video to challenge the pay-TV industry.
