Sprint and Clearwire are nearing a deal that would allow Sprint to buy the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire that it doesn’t already own, according to a report from CNBC. In October, Sprint acquired a 4.5 percent stake in Clearwire from Eagle River Holdings LLC to push it up to a 50.8 percent controlling interest in the company.
If the long-gestating acquisition is finalized, it would give Sprint access to Clearwire’s spectrum, a boost that would make Sprint much more competitive with AT&T and Verizon in the largest cities in the U.S. Market.
Potentially complicating a deal between the two companies is that it would coincide with Softbank’s current efforts to acquire a 70 percent stake in Sprint. A more robust Sprint would definitely be more appealing to the Japanese provider and Clearwire’s choice of TDD-LTE for its network would compliment Softbank’s TDD-LTE network in Japan.
The speculation lead to a spike in Clearwire stock yesterday. At the same time MetroPCS’s dipped a bit, a continuation of a slide stemming from a Reuters report from earlier this month citing references who claimed Sprint would not continue bidding on the communications company.
Filed Under: Carriers
