18
Jun
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Dish Network Bows Out To SoftBank And Abandons Its Bid For Sprint, Re-Focuses On Buying Clearwire

Posted by in News, Sprint

On today's episode of All My Mergers And Acquisitions, the long-running Sprint bidding war between Dish Network and Japanese carrier SoftBank appears to be over, at least for the moment. After SoftBank increased its Sprint bid to 21.6 billion dollars for 78% of the company last week, and Sprint subsequently sued both Dish and Clearwire for getting in the way of its corporate matchmaking, Dish has withdrawn its offer. According to Reuters, the company stated that submitting a new offer by today's deadline was not practical.

Dish is still hungry for wireless spectrum, and intends to buy shares of LTE provider Clearwire for well above market value - at least, it intends to buy the portion of Clearwire that isn't currently controlled by Sprint.

15
Apr
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In Case This Carrier Buyout Nonsense Wasn't Ridiculous Enough, Verizon Also Wants To Buy Clearwire's Spectrum For $1.5B

Posted by in Carriers, News

We just got done breaking down the proposed Dish-led acquisition of Sprint which is in no small part about gaining control of Clearwire's sweet, sweet spectrum. Now we're hearing that Verizon is reportedly also throwing its bid in, but not to buy any of the companies involved. Just to gut their ability to function as wireless carriers by gobbling up spectrum.

In a recent filing, Clearwire disclosed that an unidentified "Party J" offered up to $1.5b for the airwaves that it owns. According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon is that secret party. This could throw a kink in Sprint's plans.

15
Apr
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DISH Proposes Alternative Sprint Buyout Plan, Is Not So Secretly Gunning For Clearwire Holdings

Posted by in Carriers, News
Last Updated: April 16th, 2013

Sprint is currently in the midst of a buyout with Japanese company SoftBank that would give the foreign telecom control of not only the Now Network, but Clearwire as well, and infuse the company with some much-needed cash. Dish Network, however, hopes to derail these plans with a bid of its own, offering more cash than Softbank has on the table, as well as synergy with its existing television and and broadband packages.

Dish is offering Sprint roughly $25.5 billion for the carrier. This is about $5 billion more than SoftBank is offering, and would keep ownership of the company within the U.S.

08
Jan
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Dish Network Ups The Ante And Outbids Sprint For Clearwire By $200 Million

Posted by in News, Sprint

Break out the popcorn, folks, it's time for some corporate drama. As we reported last month, LTE service provider Clearwire is looking to sell itself, with 50% stake holder Sprint Nextel the obvious choice. But while Sprint's $2.2 billion offer (plus another $800 million in staggered investments) sits on the desks of both Clearwire shareholders and the Federal Trade Commission for approval, satellite TV provider Dish Network has made another offer. They're putting $2.4 billion on the table, about $3.30 per share, and an 11% increase over Sprint's initial offering.

For the uninitiated, Dish has been gobbling up the rights to as much LTE spectrum as it can get, though its plans for leveraging those rights isn't immediately clear.

18
Dec
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Sprint Lights Up Six New LTE Markets, Including Indianapolis, Santa Rosa, And Hanover, PA

Posted by in News, Sprint

You know the drill by now. It's time for some new LTE market announcements! Woo! Party hard. The network rollouts today are coming to Pennsylvania, California, Indiana, Virginia and Puerto Rico. This comes on the heels of Sprint announcing its intention to purchase the remaining shares of Clearwire that it didn't already own.

Here's the list of new cities:

  • Indianapolis/Carmel, Ind.
  • Santa Rosa/Petaluma, Calif.
  • Vallejo/Fairfield, Calif.
  • Southern Puerto Rico (including Ponce, Coamo and Guayama)
  • York/Hanover, Pa.
  • Franklin County, Pa.
  • Page County, Va.
  • Enhanced 4G LTE coverage around Shenandoah County, Va.

Not a bad set of additions. There is still much to be seen in regards to Sprint's LTE network rollout, particularly over the next year.

17
Dec
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Sprint Is Buying 100% Of Clearwire For $2.2bn, Will Invest $80m Per Month For 10 Months While Deal Awaits Approval

Posted by in News, Sprint

Today, Sprint announced that it would be spending $2.2bn to acquire the remaining (roughly) half of Clearwire that it doesn't already own. The transaction, which is naturally subject to regulatory approval, will give the carrier ownership of all of Clearwire's significant share of spectrum, which will be a huge boost to Sprint as it attempts to build out an LTE network to compete with Verizon and AT&T.

Of course, these deals can take forever to close, so in the meantime, the two companies have entered into a rather brilliant agreement: Sprint has promised to buy roughly $80m worth of Clearwire stock every month starting in January 2013 for up to ten months (or a total of $800m, and slightly more than 1/3rd of the total Clearwire purchase price).

16
Nov
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[Updated] WSJ Reports Google And Dish Network Have Had Talks Discussing Possible Wireless Service

Posted by in Carriers, News

If you thought Google Fiber sounded like a game changer, you may want to keep an eye on this story. According to the Wall Street Journal, which has a history of having well-placed sources, Google has held talks with Dish Network discussing the possibility of partnering on a wireless carrier to compete with AT&T, Verizon, and all the rest. At first, it sounds like a pipe dream. The kind we've been hoping for since the G1. Thing is, this time, it has a shot of not being complete bupkis.

Before we get into why this might be true, though, let's take a look at why it might be false: for starters, according to WSJ's own sources, the talks are not very advanced and "could amount to nothing." Keep in mind companies talk to each other all the time without releasing products.

18
Oct
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Sprint And Clearwire Teaming Up To Provide WiMax In NYC Starting Nov. 1st, LA From Dec. 1st And SF By Year's End.

Posted by in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

This news has been some time coming, but it finally looks like the time is nigh: Sprint WiMax will soon be available in three of America's hottest of hot-spots. While Sprint has had 4G-capable devices out for several months now, the country's two main technology centres have been starved of WiMax coverage. Sprint may fear the same backlash AT&T received when their network got hammered by the iPhone, so they must be hoping for a more positive reception.

The coverage itself will be provided in conjunction with Clearwire, who have been busy setting up their networks in preparation for these final deadlines.

29
Mar
Houston 4G

Texas Wakes Up With Sprint WiMax/4G In Houston Today

Posted by in News, Sprint

If you're one of over 4 million people living in Houston, TX, your mobile connection options just got a lot better. Clearwire, the company providing WiMax/4G service for Sprint, announced today the launch of its 28th US metropolitan market in the Houston metro area.

According to the press release,

… coverage extends as far north as Conroe and northeast as Kingwood; as far west as Katy and southwest as Richmond/Rosenburg; as far south as Alvin and southeast as Clear Lake; as far east as Baytown.

CLEAR service will also be available in the city of Lake Jackson to the south of Houston.