Now that Sprint has shown a desire to purchase T-Mobile, here comes Sprint's nemesis: Dish Networks.

Any Sprint acquisition rumor nowadays seems quickly followed by a Dish acquisition rumor, because Dish is Sprint's ultimate frenemy. At the moment, the satellite TV company is on the "friend" side, trying to build a fixed-wireless Internet business with Sprint. But just a few months ago, it was an enemy, battling Sprint for control of Clearwire, and Softbank for control of Sprint itself.

I have no idea if this bid is serious or if Dish's cantankerous CEO, Charlie Ergen, is just trying to rile up Sprint. But it's worth thinking about.

On one level, this looks like a good tie-up. Dish owns a big chunk of nationwide wireless spectrum that's suited for a mobile phone network. Some of it was formerly satellite spectrum, and some of it is 700MHz low-band "beachfront" spectrum with good in-building propagation. The company hasn't built any of it out, though, and it's tussling with the FCC over buildout requirements that could get its spectrum taken away if it continues to let it lie fallow.

T-Mobile has a nationwide network, a lack of low-band spectrum, and a network build team that sometimes seems to consist of Barry Allen and Wally West. Dish's spectrum could boost T-Mobile's network, and the company wouldn't have to sell or forfeit the airwaves.

Dish and T-Mobile are also both fighting integrated communications companies that do triple or quadruple-play sales: AT&T and Verizon. Maybe the end of cable and satellite TV is coming, but that won't be in the next few years. With U-Verse and FiOS, AT&T and Verizon can sell Americans a coherent set of TV, Internet, and wireless services all at the same time. Sprint and T-Mobile can't do that. Neither can Dish. But Dish/T-Mobile could.

A T-Mobile/Dish combination also doesn't seem to hurt competition in the wireless industry. Dish hasn't shown any desire to build out a network of its own. Bloomberg speculated Dish will just end up selling its spectrum if it can't find a partner, and partners don't seem to be forthcoming. Perhaps Dish could have made a go of it with Clearwire.

We're unlikely to get a fifth nationwide wireless carrier in the U.S. anymore. Fortunately, it seems to be possible to have decent competition with four carriers and a range of innovative virtual operators like Republic Wireless. If Dish sells its spectrum on the open market, there's a good chance it'll get snapped up by AT&T and Verizon; offloading it to T-Mobile would, in that case, be a better competitive outcome.

Of course, we don't know what the future holds. The 600MHz spectrum auction in 2015 could change the market entirely; maybe a new player will come in.

The Problems Aren't Technical

The issues in a T-Mobile/Dish tie-up don't appear to be technical. Rather, they're cultural and financial.

First of all, nobody likes Charlie Ergen.

Businessweek said Ergen was responsible for Dish becoming the "meanest company in America," and had a habit of "pounding people into submission."

This is important because T-Mobile's team is all winners right now. CEO John Legere is the architect of the game-changing "UnCarrier" approach. CTO Neville Ray is probably the nation's best network architect when it comes to working with thin resources. CMO Mike Sievert turned around a dejected, apathetic sales team.

If Ergen's egotism alienates any of them - especially Legere, who's a big personality himself - then T-Mobile's resurgence could go off the rails. T-Mobile has never had a team quite like this, and Ergen may find that they're very hard to replace.

Financially, Ergen's a risk-taker with a history of proposing highly leveraged buyouts. In my experience, a leveraged buyout almost always results in lower quality from the bought-out company as it devotes its money to paying off debt rather than to doing anything actually useful. I worked for a highly leveraged company once, and it was like pouring money into a big hole.

That's part of why Softbank was a better buyer for Sprint than Dish was. Dish promised debt; Softbank promised investment.

On balance, I would prefer that Dish not buy T-Mobile. After watching the wireless carrier flail for years under apathetic management, it's clear that the current management team is a rare find, an alignment of brains, charisma, and a willingness to take risks. Upsetting that would be pretty bad for American consumers.

But if Charlie Ergen can promise investment rather than debt financing, keep his trap shut, and not berate the golden goose to death, the two companies would make a good match.

For more, check out Sprint and T-Mobile's Painful Technical Path.