Ergen charges in

Offers $2.2B for Falcone’s spectrum

That didn’t take long. Eight days after Phil Falcone lost control of his LightSquared reorganization, satellite mogul Charlie Ergen has swooped in with a $2.2 billion cash offer to buy the bankrupt highspeed wireless network’s valuable spectrum.

The Dish Network chairman’s bid is the centerpiece of a Chapter 11 reorganization plan filed yesterday by a group of LightSquared creditors — led by the 60yearold mogul.

Under the proposed plan, Ergen will become the “stalking horse” bidding for the spectrum.

If the court agrees to hold an auction, LightSquared founder Falcone will need to come up with an equal or higher bid to avoid losing the company, which he is planning to turn into a nationwide 4G wireless carrier.

This won’t happen, however, until the company receives regulatory approval to build out its network.

The spectrum was found to interfere with nearby spectrum used by farmers and the military.

Judge Shelley Chapman was none too happy with the suddenness of the creditors’ filing, she said at a hearing in Manhattan bankruptcy court.

“The level of my voice is not reflective of the level of my frustration,” she said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Chapman set a Sept. 30 deadline to decide whether creditors can vote on the proposal.

Last week, Falcone lost control of the bankruptcy process by not filing his own plan during his exclusive period, which expired July 15.

Falcone has argued for more time to come up with his own proposal, saying Ergen has been seeking to hijack the debtor’s deal by secretly buying up the secured debt and refusing to cooperate.

If his bid is rejected, Ergen wants to be paid a breakup fee and expense reimbursement of up to $68.6 million, or 3 percent of the purchase price, court papers show.