Business

Dish surges as Ergen seeks partner

Dish Network shares gained the most in almost a month after Chairman Charlie Ergen said he won’t threaten the company’s future with his ambition to build a multibillion-dollar wireless network to become a mobile-data and voice provider.

Dish rose 4 percent to $31.93, the biggest gain since Sept. 5.

The Englewood, Colo.-based company’s shares are up 12 percent this year.

The second-largest US satellite-TV provider is looking for a partner that’s already in the industry to help it build “the best wireless network in the United States,” Ergen said yesterday at a conference in Orlando, Fla.

Dish’s billionaire founder calmed investors by reiterating he was unlikely to build a network on his own, said Vijay Jayant, an analyst at ISI Group, New York.

“He stressed that potential partners will evolve as his plans progress, and he kept open the possibility he could sell the spectrum if everything didn’t line up,” Jayant said. He advises buying Dish shares.

Ergen dismissed any immediate plan to sell Dish’s radio spectrum licenses.