Clearwire said that it has “not had any substantive discussions” with Dish Network in recent weeks, and that it does not believe that the US satellite broadcaster is likely to better Sprint’s recently improved offer.

While Dish made a $3.30 per share bid for Clearwire in January of this year, trumping the $2.97 per share originally offered by Sprint, Clearwire said that it has not held serious discussions since Dish subsequently made an offer to buy Sprint.

And this week, Sprint upped its offer to $3.40 per share, an offer it described as “best and final”.

US wholesale operator Clearwire previously said that it was unlikely that it would be acquired by anyone other than majority shareholder Sprint, because “a sale to a third party other than Sprint is unlikely to occur due to Clearwire’s governance structure and Sprint’s unwillingness to sell its stake”.

Clearwire’s board yesterday issued a statement recommending that shareholders accept Sprint’s new offer.

But shareholder Crest Financial has remained critical of the deal, arguing that the revised offer “still significantly undervalues” Clearwire.