Dish said to be in mobile network talks with Sprint

Bloomberg reported on Friday that Sprint is in conversation with the Dish Network to potentially offer a Dish mobile phone service.

According to "two people familiar with the matter", Dish may partner with Sprint to offer a mobile phone service on Sprint's network either for a fee or for shared revenues.

The deal, reportedly discussed by the companies in recent months, would allow Sprint to capitalize on Dish's currently unused spectrum.

Also under the deal, Dish would be able to jump into the mobile carrier game without having to invest in costly infrastructure pieces that Sprint would grant access to.

The Dish Network's CEO, Joe Clayton, responded to the questioning about the talks, saying, "We speak with everybody."

Pending matters

The talks could be irrelevant, however, depending on the upcoming ruling of an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC's meeting on December 12th will begin the process of deciding how the government will allow Dish to use its currently inactive spectrum.

Even if the FCC ruling is favorable for Dish, recent tension between Dish and Sprint still imperil the partnership.

Sprint has asked that Dish's spectrum function at a "lower signal power" in order to preserve the integrity of nearby bandwidth known as the H Block.

Both companies may be vying for the purchase of the H Block in an FCC auction for the spectrum next year.