FCC clears the way for Sprint to buy Clearwire and merge with Softbank
This isn’t really shocking to anyone who has been following this story for any length of time, but the FCC officially approved Sprint’s acquisition of Clearwire, along with Softbank’s investment in Sprint.
This decision marks the end of all federal government scrutiny of Sprint’s plans, and Sprint’s shareholders already voted to approve the transaction with Softbank back on June 25. Clearwire’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the transaction with Sprint later today, although Clearwire’s board of directors already recommended the transaction last month, as well.
SoftBank is investing almost $22 billion in Sprint, which will give it a 78% stake in the company. Once Sprint finishes acquiring the remaining 49% of Clearwire that it doesn’t already own, Sprint will be in quite a good position – not only will it have more spectrum available to it than any other wireless carrier in the nation, but it will have a massive infusion of cash that it can throw at its LTE upgrades and network modernization. With Softbank’s expertise at the helm, the future is finally starting to look bright.
[Sprint]
