DISH Network targets Sprint with competing $25.5B bid to trump SoftBank offer

by Jeff Causey on Apr 15th 2013, 4:37pm
tagged Dish Network, merger, softbank, Sprint

DISH Network announced today that they have submitted a merger proposal to Sprint with a value of $25.5 billion. The offer consists of $17.3 billion in cash and another $8.2 billion in stock. According to DISH Network’s news release, the cash portion of the deal represents an 18% premium over the offer currently on the table from SoftBank. DISH Network also points out that the ownership proposal for stockholders is a better deal as Sprint stockholders will end up with a 32% in the entire merged company whereas SoftBank is only offering a 30% stake in the Sprint portion of the company if they buy it up. According to DISH Network, the merger with Sprint will create a unique company that can offer customers video, broadband, and voice services both in-home and out-of-home.

Keep in mind Sprint is also in the process of acquiring full ownership of Clearwire, but that deal is contingent on the closing of the SoftBank deal. With a competing offer now on the table, it is not clear how that might impact the acquisition of Clearwire. Sprint has not yet issued a response to this latest offer. Hit the break for the full press release issued by DISH Network. » Read the rest

Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile join Via Licensing’s 4G LTE patent pool

by Jeff Causey on Feb 22nd 2013, 11:43am
tagged China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, patent, pool, Via Licensing

Via Licensing Corporation announced two new additions to their LTE patent pool. China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom have both joined the pool as owners of standards essential patents that are part of the LTE industry standard. Via Licensing, which maintains licensing programs for several technologies, launched the LTE pool last October. Thus far they have obtained commitments from AT&T, Clearwire Corporation, DTVG Licensing, HP, KDDI Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, and ZTE Corporation in addition to these latest entrants.

In joining the licensing pool, Deutsche Telecom hopes to battle the problem of “costly patent litigation and a lack of predictability surrounding the cost and availability of essential IP.” The pool helps companies like China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom by reducing the risk of litigations and paving the way for licensing deals for their own patents.

source: TechCrunch

Sprint Sums Up 2012 LTE Rollout, Lists Additional Cities Rolling Out Soon

by Sean Stewart on Dec 19th 2012, 10:56am
tagged 4gLte, LTE, Sprint

It’s been quite a busy year for Sprint, namely building out their LTE network, not to mention that little acquisition. Now that 2012 is winding down, Sprint is reporting that there are 49 total markets now with LTE service, and more than 150 on the horizon. Additionally, 70 markets have seen improved 3G service including better signal strength for both voice and data. In their latest presser, they also revealed 36 more markets that’ll see LTE light up ‘in the coming months.’ Hit the break for the full list.

» Read the rest

Sprint to acquire full ownership of Clearwire, offers $2.97 per share

by Jeff Causey on Dec 17th 2012, 11:31am
tagged clearwire, merger, Sprint

Confirming news reported last week, Sprint and Clearwire made it official today that Sprint will acquire full ownership of Clearwire. Sprint announced they will pay $2.97 per share, or about $2.2 billion, to shareholders who own the almost 50% stake not currently owned by Sprint. The share price represents a 128 percent premium compared to Clearwire’s closing share price on October 11th, the day before discussions between Sprint and SoftBank were confirmed.

According to the press release issued today, Clearwire’s board of directors unanimously approved the definitive agreement. In addition, commitments were received from Comcast Corp., Intel Corp and Bright House Networks LLC to vote their shares, equal to a 13 percent stake, in favor of the agreement. The transaction is subject to the usual closing conditions, including regulatory approval. The deal is contingent on Sprint and SoftBank closing on their previously announced deal. Both agreements are anticipated to close sometime in mid-2013.

source: Sprint

Sprint Offers Clearwire $2.1 Billion To Become Truly Part Of The Sprint Family

by Roy Alugbue on Dec 13th 2012, 7:46am
tagged 4G, acquisitions, clearwire, softbank, Sprint, Sprint Nextel

We already know that Sprint & Clearwire has quite the relationship, but Sprint fully intends from not just owning some of Clearwire, but it wants to acquire what’s left of the available Clearwire share. Reuters reports that Sprint (by way of Softbank) wants full control of Clearwire’s network and subsequent spectrum by making a full $2.1 billion offer. If the deal is approved (and all indications point to its approval), the entire value of Clearwire would be worth somewhere in the area of $4.2 billion— though we won’t see the deal formally approved until at least sometime in the March or April of the upcoming year.

Talk about Sprint wanting to put a ring on it. Sheesh.We’ll be on the lookout for any further developments on this big news.

source: Reuters

Sprint, Clearwire moving closer to deal according to CNBC

by Jeff Causey on Dec 11th 2012, 9:15pm
tagged clearwire, merger, negotiations, softbank, Sprint

Reporting on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, show host David Farber indicated negotiations between Sprint and Clearwire have been heating up in the last few days. Sprint, which already owns a majority interest in Clearwire, has been rumored to be working on a deal to buy out the remaining shareholders. Discussions with some of the other major parties, like Bright House, Intel, and Comcast, have been held in an effort to work through some of the complexities of a potential buyout. According to Farber’s sources, Sprint is trying to gain complete control over Clearwire in order to have access to Clearwire’s spectrum.

Sprint is poised to become a subsidiary of Softbank, probably in March or April 2013. Individuals familiar with the negotiations think the closing of the Softbank deal and the Sprint/Clearwire deal should occur at the same time. In order to provide appropriate notice, Sprint will likely need to issue a statement before the end of the year. Clearwire’s debt holders noted the company did not call First Lien Notes yesterday, adding to the speculation that Clearwire does not anticipate being an independent company for much longer.

source: CNBC

Sprint gains control of Clearwire

by Winston Gordon on Oct 18th 2012, 12:30pm
tagged clearwire, softbank, Sprint

Sprint officially holds the controlling interest in Clearwire after buying out a shareholder pushing their stake in Clearwire from 48.1% to 50.8%. Clearwire and Sprint were both struggling financially but this move was made possible by Softbank acquiring Sprint on Monday. Sprint and Clearwire have done this dance before, but now that they have support from Softbank and a little more financial support it will be interesting to see what these companies are able to do in the future.

Source: Reuters

Softbank Formally Announces Acquisition Of Sprint Nextel

by Roy Alugbue on Oct 15th 2012, 8:46am
tagged 4G LTE, acquisitions, softbank, Sprint

As Softbank’s deep pockets have suddenly opened up a new challenger to Verizon & AT&T, it’s only natural for Sprint & Softbank to make an official statement confirming the major news. In a press release unveiled this morning, Softbank announced it will acquire Sprint Nextel for a whopping $20.1 billion ($12.1 billion in cash consideration & $8 billion in capital). The major highlight of this is the deal is the fact this will give Softbank a 70% stake of Sprint and 30% ownership, effectively giving it full control over the Now Network. The hope of this deal is Softbank will effectively give Sprint a better platform to use in rolling out not just its LTE network, but an LTE network with a significantly better structure than its competitors. Here’s Sprint CEO Dan Heese:

“This is a transformative transaction for Sprint that creates immediate value for our stockholders, while providing an opportunity to participate in the future growth of a stronger, better capitalized Sprint going forward. Our management team is excited to work with SoftBank to learn from their successful deployment of LTE in Japan as we build out our advanced LTE network, improve the customer experience and continue the turnaround of our operations.”

Of course all of this will be pending regulatory approval– so hopefully we won’t see some sort of mishap like we’d seen before. Hit the break for the full presser.

» Read the rest

Sprint No Longer a Majority Shareholder Of Clearwire

by Macky Evangelista on Jun 11th 2012, 6:18pm
tagged clearwire, LTE, Sprint

Sprint has recently voiced concerns with Clearwires’s debt and just announced that its holdings in the company are now below 50%. What does this mean exactly? Well, this means Sprint is no longer the majority share holder of the company and that the partnership between the two are going by the wayside.

Sprint has had an interesting partnership with Clearwire for the past couple of years as the two shared the 4G WiMAX network. While Sprint has been pushing to build their own 4G LTE network, Clearwire isn’t being used for that new plan. Thus, I would assume that this change in market share doesn’t really matter, nor will it affect Sprint in the future. We’re not quite sure what Sprint’s plan for Clearwire will be at this point as they have given no indication about their future partnership with the company. Either way you can be sure that Sprint’s complete and undivided attention is focused on pushing out their own LTE network to compete with Verizon and AT&T’s respective LTE services. And of course, we cannot forget about T-Mobile’s plans for their very own LTE network which is said to launch in 2013.

source: Reuters

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