Sprint, Global Signal Reach Tower Deal
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Cellular phone tower operator Global Signal Inc. will pay &#36;1.2 billion cash for the right to operate or lease more than 6,600 towers owned by Sprint Corp. for 32 years, the companies announced Monday.
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Sprint, the fourth-largest US cell phone operator, has started a $3 billion network upgrade, with $1 billion earmarked for a wireless broadband service to launch soon in selected cities, a Sprint executive said Tuesday.
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The merger deal between Sprint and Nextel, which reportedly has not been finalized, is being described as a merger of equals that would create the third largest US cellular carrier with nearly 39 million subscribers.
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(InfoWorld) - With wider national coverage than either company could have had on its own, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. say they can achieve on their joint WiMax network some of whatÂ Google Inc. and others want to seeÂ in the prized 700MHz band. TheÂ companies announced Thursday they will link their respective WiMax wireless broadband networks to give subscribers a seamless roaming experience across territories that eventually will cover 300 million U.S. residents. The network will deliver between 2M bps (bits per second) and 4M bps downstream and about half that speed upstream, they said. Sprint and Clearwire plan to use WiMax so that subscribers can choose among a wide range of devices built to the open standard on which the technology is based. In addition, they intend to let users access any application or service on the Internet, said Atish Gude, senior vice president of mobile broadband operations at Sprint. The upcoming auction of 700MHz radio spectrum around the U.S. has sparked a fierce debate between traditional carriers and Google Inc., Frontline Wireless LLC and others over how that spectrum should be used. Current mobile operators generally sell a limited set of devices locked to their networks and favor their own applications among the offerings their customers can access on their phones. Google told the FCC on Friday it won't bid unless the government requires any-device, any-application networks. It also wants a rule forcing the winners to sell wholesale network access to other service providers. Sprint doesn't have plans for wholesale access. Sprint, which announced its WiMax plans last year, said Thursday it owns spectrum licenses for the WiMax band that cover 185 million U.S. residents. Clearwire has spectrum in the same band to serve 115 million people. The combined network should be fairly comprehensive, covering urban, suburban and rural areas across the country, which today has a population just over 302 million, the Census Bureau estimates. After "soft" launches in Chicago and Washington, D.C., at the end of this year and commercial availability starting next year, the companies together aim to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008. This is the same 2008 goal Sprint had given previously by itself, but it was an aggressive goal then and is now a conservative estimate, Gude said. The companies did not estimate when the full network would be completed. Given the higher frequency Sprint and Clearwire plan to use, at 2.5GHz, their network is likely to need more base stations than a similar network using 700MHz, which travels over long distances and through walls more easily. Clearwire already operates a wireless broadband service and has been planning to convert it to standard mobile WiMax, which is only now emerging as a commercial technology. The company is backed by heavy hitters including Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. Sprint, struggling against larger rivals AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless Inc., could use Clearwire's helping hand. The deal may let Sprint realize its WiMax dream at less expense, said IDC analyst Godfrey Chua. There seems to be little overlap between the two carriers' licenses, so the partnership won't really hurt competition and is likely to win government approval, Chua said. The first users will access the network with standalone modems, notebook add-on cards or PCs and smaller Ultra Mobile PCs with embedded modems, Sprint said. But it sees mobility as the key driver of the network and believes WiMax handsets will arrive by 2009, Gude said. However, Chua thinks ever-faster cellular technologies have the edge for mobility. The Sprint-Clearwire network will compete mainly against DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modem services, with the advantage that subscribers can set up a notebook away from home and enjoy the same service. It could significantly boost broadband competition, he said. "It's making the world a little bit more interesting now," Chua said. Â
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Crown Castle International Corp.  on Friday said it will buy smaller rival Global Signal Inc.  for $4 billion in stock and cash to create the biggest U.S. operator of towers that transmit calls to and from cell phones.
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Sprint (FON:NYSE - news - research) and Nextel (NXTL:Nasdaq - news - research) confirmed a $35 billion merger Wednesday morning, going public with their definitive agreement despite reports that Verizon (VZ:NYSE - news - research) continues to weigh its
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U.S. telecom carriers Sprint (NYSE: FON) and SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC) have announced a reciprocal deal, under which their customers will be able to use both companies' wireless Internet connections more easily.
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PHILADELPHIA/NEW YORK  - Sprint Corp. is close to  an agreement buy Nextel Communications Inc. for more than $36  billion in a mostly stock deal that would combine the No. 3 and  No. 5 U.S. wireless telephone companies, sources familiar with  the situation said on Friday.
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Round two of US wireless industry consolidation is officially under way, with Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc.making the much anticipated announcement that they have agreed to a $35 billion merger Wednesday, Dec.
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PHILADELPHIA/NEW YORK  - Sprint Corp. is close to  an agreement to buy Nextel Communications Inc. for about $35  billion in a mostly stock deal that would combine the No. 3 and  No. 5 U.S. wireless telephone companies, sources familiar with  the situation said on Friday.
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Sprint Corp. on Wednesday agreed to buy wireless telephone company Nextel Communications Inc. in a cash and stock deal worth as much as &#36;38.45 billion to gain more business customers and more wireless airwaves to transmit calls.
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Sprint Corp. said Wednesday it would buy mobile telephone company Nextel Communications Inc. for about &#36;36 billion, creating a U.S. wireless carrier with nearly 40 million subscribers.
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Sprint agreed on Wednesday to buy Nextel Communications for about $35 billion, doubling its customers and bolstering its No. 3 position in the US wireless industry.
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Sprint said on Friday it has made a deal that will let it nearly double the number of places it offers short-range wireless Internet connections.
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Sprint is close to an agreement to buy Nextel for more than $35 billion in a mostly stock deal, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.
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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON  - Sprint Corp. FON.N said  on Wednesday it would buy mobile telephone company Nextel  Communications Inc. NXTL.O for about $36 billion, creating a  U.S. wireless carrier with nearly 40 million subscribers.
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Sprint said Wednesday it had reached an agreement with Northern PCS of Minnesota to acquire the company for $312.5 million in a continuing effort to appease regional affiliates that objected to its merger with Nextel in 2005.