Business

Ergen ditches plan to buy Clearwire

It’s game over for satellite mogul Charlie Ergen — again.

Roughly a week after dropping plans to acquire wireless carrier Sprint, Ergen, the chairman of satellite-TV operator Dish Network, has officially abandoned his efforts to buy wireless company Clearwire.

With the move, Ergen cedes the battle to Sprint.

Dish, in a statement yesterday, said it is “withdrawing its tender offer” to acquire all Class A shares outstanding of Clearwire for $4.40 a share.

Ergen cited Clearwire’s recent decision to support a competing $5-a-share offer from Sprint.

Ergen has been amassing spectrum in an effort to build out his own wireless broadband network, and his bids for Sprint and Clearwire were part of that plan.

The telecom mogul’s next target could be LightSquared, the troubled wireless venture tied to billionaire investor Phil Falcone that once sought to compete with the likes of Sprint and AT&T. In May, Ergen, who owns LightSuqared debt, reportedly made a $2 billion bid for some of the company’s spectrum.

Falcone’s hedge fund, Harbinger Capital Partners, invested $3 billion in the Reston, Va., start-up before it filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The bankruptcy was filed after the Federal Communications Commission quashed LightSquared’s move to build its network — citing fears that its airwaves would interfere with expensive military and farming global positioning systems.

Falcone has about a week to come up with a reorganization plan for his company — or risk losing control to creditors.

Recently, the FCC reignited hope in LightSquared’s future by giving the company permission to experiment with other airwaves.