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December 02, 2010, 12:02 PM EST
By Greg Bensinger
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Nextel Corp. supports a network accord between partner Clearwire Corp. and Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, said Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst Jason Armstrong, who met with Sprint management yesterday.
“Sprint indicated they have encouraged a wholesale deal,” said Armstrong in a Dec. 1 research note, after meeting with Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse and Chief Financial Officer Bob Brust. “Sprint would support a T-Mobile equity infusion into Clearwire.”
In a wholesale deal, T-Mobile would buy capacity on Clearwire’s so-called fourth-generation network, which enables faster Web browsing and video downloads than some other standards. T-Mobile’s own network uses a different technology.
Clearwire said last month it may not have enough funding to keep operating and announced a debt sale of at least $1.1 billion today. On Nov. 4, the company said it would pare 15 percent of jobs, reduce sales and marketing spending and delay its Clear-branded smartphone to help it save as much as $400 million through the first half. Sprint has a 54 percent stake in Clearwire and sells service over the Kirkland, Washington-based carrier’s network.
“We have talked to T-Mobile in the past,” said Mike DiGioia, a Clearwire spokesman, declining to say if the carriers have held recent discussions.
Cristi Allen, a Sprint spokeswoman in Overland Park, Kansas, had no immediate comment and Reid Walker, a T-Mobile spokesman, couldn’t immediately be reached before regular business hours in Bellevue, Washington.
Sprint gained 17 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $3.94 at 11:26 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Clearwire fell 42 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $6.40 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and Deutsche Telekom lost 6 cents to 9.99 euros in Frankfurt.
--Editors: Ville Heiskanen, Peter Elstrom
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
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Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Nextel Corp. supports a network accord between partner Clearwire Corp. and Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, said Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst Jason Armstrong, who met with Sprint management yesterday.
“Sprint indicated they have encouraged a wholesale deal,” said Armstrong in a Dec. 1 research note, after meeting with Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse and Chief Financial Officer Bob Brust. “Sprint would support a T-Mobile equity infusion into Clearwire.”
In a wholesale deal, T-Mobile would buy capacity on Clearwire’s so-called fourth-generation network, which enables faster Web browsing and video downloads than some other standards. T-Mobile’s own network uses a different technology.
Clearwire said last month it may not have enough funding to keep operating and announced a debt sale of at least $1.1 billion today. On Nov. 4, the company said it would pare 15 percent of jobs, reduce sales and marketing spending and delay its Clear-branded smartphone to help it save as much as $400 million through the first half. Sprint has a 54 percent stake in Clearwire and sells service over the Kirkland, Washington-based carrier’s network.
“We have talked to T-Mobile in the past,” said Mike DiGioia, a Clearwire spokesman, declining to say if the carriers have held recent discussions.
Cristi Allen, a Sprint spokeswoman in Overland Park, Kansas, had no immediate comment and Reid Walker, a T-Mobile spokesman, couldn’t immediately be reached before regular business hours in Bellevue, Washington.
Sprint gained 17 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $3.94 at 11:26 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Clearwire fell 42 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $6.40 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and Deutsche Telekom lost 6 cents to 9.99 euros in Frankfurt.
--Editors: Ville Heiskanen, Peter Elstrom
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
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