Dish withdraws bid for LightSquared
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Dish withdraws bid for LightSquared

Dish has withdrawn its $2.2 billion bid to buy bankrupt wireless broadband company LightSquared.

LightSquared claimed that Dish's decision to pull out of the acquistion could be an attempt to acquire the troubled wireless provider later in the year with a lower offer.

The announcement was made just before the commencement of a trial into whether Dish chairman Charles Ergen had unlawfully bought LightSquared debt.

LightSquared is suing Ergen over the acquisition of its debt, arguing that the chairman made the move in an attempt to gain indirect control of the company.

Dish was seeking to acquire LightSquared's L-Band spectrum, which would complement its own spectrum holdings.

LightSquared declared bankruptcy in May 2012, after its plan to build a nationwide 4G LTE network were blocked by the Federal Communications Commission, on the grounds that it could interfere with GPS navigation systems in the US.


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