15
Apr
dishtiny

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.

17
Jan
ATT-logo

AT&T Is Going Shopping For A European Carrier To Buy Or Merge With, Says WSJ

Posted by in AT&T, News

AT&T has a problem on its hands. It's big, but is it big enough? If you're a CEO of a major corporation the answer to that question is always "no." However, the carrier has difficulty expanding on the home front. An overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens have phones with one carrier or another, so there's very little wiggle room to grab new customers. And gaining in market share when you (and all  your competitors!) are dead set on locking people into two-year contracts is very difficult. In short, growth isn't much of an option outside acquisitions, and those haven't gone so well.

18
Dec
sprintlogothumb

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
sprintlogothumb

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).

26
Nov
sprintlogothumb

Sprint Turns On Several LTE Networks In Virginia, Massachusetts, Indiana, And More

Posted by in News, Sprint

Those of you who are on Sprint and thus have no need for opinions on the Nexus 4's lack of a 4G radio will probably agree: more LTE coverage is more gooder. Well, the Now Network concurs and the carrier is opening up the airwaves in a few more cities and areas, including Anderson, Indiana; Harrisonburg, Virginia; and Peabody, Massachusetts.

Here's the full list of cities that launch today (with coverage expanding in these areas over the coming months):

  • Anderson, Ind.
  • Clarke County, Va./Jefferson County, W.Va.
  • Harrisburg/Carlisle/Hershey, Pa.
  • Hagerstown, Md./Martinsburg, W.Va.
  • Harrisonburg, Va.
  • Muncie, Ind.
  • Peabody, Mass.
  • Salina, Kan.
  • Shenandoah County, Va.

18
Oct
death-star-att

Unbelievably, AT&T Isn't Too Hot On The Sprint-Softbank Deal

Posted by in AT&T, Carriers, News, Sprint

This morning, AT&T VP Brad Burns released a statement regarding the upcoming Softbank purchase of Sprint, and it carefully treads the line between "passive aggressive displeasure" and "seriously FCC, if this goes through, we're buying like a million carriers":

Softbank's acquisition of Sprint and the control it gains over Clearwire will give one of Japan's largest wireless companies control of significantly more U.S. wireless spectrum than any other company. We expect that fact and others will be fully explored in the regulatory review process. This is one more example of a very dynamic and competitive U.S. wireless marketplace, which is an important fact for U.S.

15
Oct
sprint

SoftBank Officially Announces The $20.1 Billion Investment In Sprint

Posted by in News, Sprint

SoftBank, a Japanese telecommunications and Internet corporation, has confirmed via a press release and a live event in Tokyo the $20.1bn investment that would give SoftBank a 70% ownership of Sprint. The news hit the rumor mill 3 days ago and was pretty much confirmed by CNBC yesterday. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2013 pending regulatory approval.

Roughly $12.1bn will be paid to the shareholders at $7.30 a share and $8bn will be used to "strengthen Sprint's balance sheet," grow the network, and perform "strategic investments."

Sprint's shares closed at $5.73 last Friday for a +144.87% gain this year so far.

14
Oct
sprint-store1

CNBC Reporting That Sprint-Softbank Deal Is To Be Announced Tomorrow: $20 Billion For 70% Of The Now Network

Posted by in News, Sprint

Just what the title says here, folks: Softbank and Sprint have reached a deal that will transfer 70% of Sprint's shares to the Japanese telecom giant. The price? A cool $20 billion - a premium significantly above Sprint's $17 billion market cap, 70% of which would be just $12 billion. The deal will involve Sprint selling $8 billion of stock directly to Softbank, and another $12 billion that will be acquired through Sprint shareholders, at a price of $7.30 a share. Considering Sprint stock hit a rather staggering low approaching $2 earlier this year, it's not like they're exactly getting a raw deal.

11
Oct
sprintlogothumb

Sprint Is In Talks With Softbank For A "Substantial Investment" That "Could Involve A Change Of Control"

Posted by in News, Sprint

We've heard rumors that Sprint is considering outbidding T-Mobile for MetroPCS's affection. Just in case that doesn't work, though, Sprint wants us to know that there is another plan in the works: being purchased by Softbank. Since most of you likely aren't up to date on Japanese telecoms, here's the deal: Softbank is a Japanese telecom. The third largest wireless carrier in the country, so a bit of a kindred spirit with Sprint. Now, the Japanese company may be interested in purchasing big yellow. Rumors broke earlier today, and now Sprint has sent out this brief press release to confirm:

Sprint (NYSE: S) today confirmed that it is currently engaged in discussions with Softbank regarding a potential substantial investment by Softbank in Sprint.