Earlier his week, SoftBank confirmed it wont budge on its offer to acquire US wireless carrier Sprint. It said the competing offer from Dish was “incomplete and illusory” and claimed it has the better deal. Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen didn’t take this criticism lying down and responded vehemently in favor of his company.
Speaking to USA Today, Ergen said this about Japanese-based Softbank:
“We’re offering a higher price. That’s just math. 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. Operations command control will be in America. That’s good for jobs. It doesn’t mean that the other guys are bad. It’s just that we have an advantage.”
Ergen said SoftBank is just giving the deal lip service and will eventually raise its bid for Sprint. At this point, Sprint is entertaining a $20.1B offer from SoftBank and a $25.5B bid from Dish Network. The US carrier is examining both deals and has not hinted which one it is close to accepting.