Sprint has set up a special committee of independent directors to evaluate Dish Network’s audacious $25.5 billion takeover bid for the third largest US mobile operator.

The committee is chaired by Larry Glasscock and consists of four other members: James Hance, Janet Hill, William Nuti and Rodney O’Neal. It has also appointed BofA Merrill Lynch as its financial adviser and Shearman & Sterling as its legal counsel.

Satellite TV provider Dish last week announced a $25.5 billion offer for Sprint that challenges the agreement struck by the operator in October last year to sell 70 per cent of its shares to Softbank for $20.1 billion.

In its statement, Sprint said: “The special committee plans to evaluate the proposal and additional information that the committee has requested from Dish and provide its assessment to the full board in due course whether the proposal is, or is reasonably likely to lead to, a Superior Offer (as defined in the Agreement and Plan of Merger with SoftBank Corp.).”

Dish welcomed the news of the special committee and said it was available to meet with Sprint’s board, management and advisers. “We are confident that the Sprint board will share our view that this proposal is superior on several fronts,” it said, pointing to its higher offer but also the ways in which the two companies could integrate their services in the future.

Meanwhile a Bloomberg report said Softbank is not currently considering an increase in its offer for Sprint. The Japanese company will focus on its existing plans, said an unnamed executive.  Softbank is focusing on the benefits of its offer compared with its rival’s “highly conditional preliminary proposal”. The company expects to close the deal on 1 July, it said.