Two of the most colorful players in the telecom industry get to make nice.  If the deal proceeds, it will be interesting to see how two difficult, others would say mercurial, players (Charlie Ergen of Dish and John Legere of TMobile) mesh.

 

            One should have skepticism about the deal, not due to regulatory and antitrust constraints.  It seems that Mr. Ergen hails from the John Malone school of negotiation where the deal doesn’t get done unless and until every less unit of value gets squeezed out.

            The big, multi-billion dollar question for the deal in whether and how the massive warehoused Dish spectrum can provide mobile, convergent services including voice, video and smartphone apps.  This issue combines spectrum propagation questions with device issues.

            How would Dish spectrum compare with far lower frequencies used for current smartphone services?  Will major wireless handset manufacturers support new product lines for use on Dish frequencies?

            Stay tuned.