Dish May Not Have Suitors for Its Spectrum Holdings, Moffett Says

None of the four major wireless carriers have a balance sheet strong enough to buy all or most of Dish Network's spectrum holdings, while other possible buyers -- including Charter Communications or Comcast -- seem unlikely, emailed MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett to investors Tuesday as the firm downgraded its Dish rating to "sell." The "prospects for Dish monetizing its spectrum, by sale, by lease or even by acquisition are much more limited than the spectrum-as-commodity framework would suggest," Moffett wrote. Neither Sprint nor T-Mobile needs mid-band spectrum as much as they need low-band spectrum, he said, saying Comcast could afford such a deal, but its strategy seems to be aimed more at using its Verizon mobile virtual network operator partnership and perhaps participation in the current incentive auction. Google, Apple or Amazon could afford a Dish deal, Moffett said, but if they had spectrum wants they likely would have registered for the incentive auction. He also was skeptical of Dish using the spectrum for building its own network, since even one that only satisfies FCC ownership requirements would necessitate billions in capital expenditures. Dish didn't comment Tuesday. Dish stock closed the day at $50.33, up 1.47 percent.