According to separate reports from news wire services Reuters and Bloomberg, some investors in Clearwire Corp want Sprint Nextel to offer a new acquisition deal - a higher bid than what the Clearwire board consented to, in December - after Dish Network's counter offer for the company.

In a bid to acquire the 50 percent share of Clearwire which is not already owned by Sprint, the Overland Park, Kan.-based carrier had - backed by a $20 billion investment commitment from Tokyo-based SoftBank - made an acquisition offer of $2.97 per share last month.

However, a counter offer was soon made by Douglas County-based bigwig satellite TV firm Dish Network, which not only came up with a competing $3.30 per-share offer for Clearwire stock, but also separately offered $2.2 billion for acquiring 24 percent of Clearwire's spectrum.

Despite the fact that Sprint asserted that the "current contractual arrangements" which it has worked out with Clearwire rendered Dish Network's counter offer dead on arrival, a Clearwire special committee has stated that the Dish offer will be reviewed by the company.

As a result of the Dish counter offer, a sizeable minority of shareholders, among the 32 percent not said to be committed to the Sprint deal, have now put forth the argument that Sprint's offer undervalues Clearwire vis-a-vis the Dish Network bid.

Meanwhile, noting that "Sprint believes its agreement to acquire Clearwire is superior," a representative of the carrier said: "Sprint is offering Clearwire shareholders a more certain price and path to close."