Dish Network has formally withdrawn its offer to acquire the high-speed internet provider Clearwire. It now looks like Sprint is well on its way to close the deal at $5.00 per share.

The move was made in response to a change in recommendation from Clearwire’s board of directors last week, resulting in the board shying away from Dish’s $4.40 per share offer, in favor of Sprint’s $5.00 a share bid, which was up from $3.40.

With the new $5.00 per share offer, the Sprint Nextel Corporation will end up paying roughly around $3.9 billion to Clearwire’s minority stakeholders. Sprint already owned a majority stake in the company and will take 100% control if the deal goes through.

Now that Sprint’s investors have approved Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint and is well on the way to closing the deal with Clearwire, it looks like this coul be a successful year for Sprint.

• SourceThe Japan Times