Sprint

SoftBank grants waiver for Sprint to talk more to Dish

SoftBank made a bold move in its ongoing battle with Dish to acquire Sprint. The Japanese wireless carrier gave Sprint a special waiver on Monday to let it go into more broad talks with Dish.

While this seems counterintuitive, SoftBank said that it believes further talks between Dish and Sprint will only show the U.S. wireless carrier that SoftBank is the superior candidate for the acquisition.

"We continue to believe that our agreed transaction, which we plan to close in approximately six weeks, creates substantially greater value and provides far greater certainty for Sprint shareholders," SoftBank Holdings … Read more

Sprint buys Handmark, OneLouder to boost ad service

Sprint Nextel has acquired Handmark and its unit OneLouder Apps to boost its Pinsight Media+ advertising service, the wireless carrier said Monday.

The deal for the mobile app developer and advertising company immediately gives Sprint an experienced advertising team, an ad platform, and top-rated mobile apps that serve millions of customers each day. Handmark and OneLouder will continue to operate under their current brand names and will remain in their current Kansas City location, Sprint said. OneLouder President Evan Conway will lead the company. Handmark founder and CEO Augie Grasis will join a new advisory board to provide direction to … Read more

Sprint grabs U.S. Cellular spectrum, customers for $480m

Sprint's network will soon receive a much-needed boost in some Midwestern cities like Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri.

The wireless carrier announced on Friday that it finished inking a deal with regional service provider U.S. Cellular, which is based in the Midwest.

As part of the $480 million agreement, Sprint will gain a total of 30MHz of PCS spectrum, which Sprint says will expand its network capacity in those areas, bringing better service to customers there.

In addition, around 420,000 U.S. Cellular customers will also transfer over to the Sprint family. Sprint and its prepaid arms, … Read more

Top mobile carriers join forces to stop texting while driving

The four major wireless carriers are putting their sway behind a massive ad campaign that aims to lower the amount of people that text while driving in the U.S.

Initiated by AT&T, the multi-million dollar "It Can Wait" campaign now has the support of Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and more than 200 other organizations. Besides rolling out TV, radio, and Internet ads throughout the summer, the campaign will also travel to thousands of retail stores, create a social media presence, and display messaging on Goodyear blimps.

"Texting while driving is a deadly habit that makes … Read more

BlackBerry Q10 lands at Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint this summer

Keyboard fans looking for their BlackBerry Q10 this summer will have their pick of three carriers: Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Verizon will kick off Q10 sales with a preorder in the coming weeks, and will sell the Q10 in June.

T-Mobile has also committed to a June time frame, adding that business customers can get the smartphone for a wholesale price of $119.99 "with qualifying plans." T-Mobile's regular customers will be able to pick up the device for $99.99 down, topped by $20 a month for the next two years. That's a total of $… Read more

Dish to sell $2.5B in debt to fund Sprint bid

Dish Network plans to sell about $2.5 billion in debt to help fund its proposed takeover of Sprint Nextel, the company said Tuesday.

The proceeds from the offering will be placed in escrow and will then be released to finance part of the funds needed for the $25.5 billion Sprint acquisition. If the proposed merger falls through or doesn't take place before a certain date, Dish plans to redeem the notes.

Dish and Japanese carrier SoftBank have been battling for Sprint for the past couple months. SoftBank in October offered to pay shareholders $12.1 billion and … Read more

Clearwire board urges shareholders to OK Sprint offer

Clearwire's board of directors has gone through the due diligence evaluating buyout deals and all paths have led it to one conclusion: go with Sprint.

In a letter the board wrote to shareholders on Monday, Clearwire's directors urged their fellow shareholders to accept Sprint's merger deal with the company when they can vote on the transaction next week. In the letter, which was signed by Executive Chairman John Stanton, the board used the advice of analysts, its own evaluation of the deal, and help from an independent shareholder advising organization, called Institutional Shareholder Services, to make its … Read more

Path loads up with Sprint for Galaxy S4, HTC One, Torque

Private social network Path, fresh off hitting 10 million registered users, has struck a deal with Sprint that should help the 2-year-old company attract an even larger audience.

Path announced Wednesday that it has partnered with Sprint and that its application for private social networking will come preloaded on Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and Torque devices.

The application will be featured inside Sprint's "Discover It" widget, as pictured right.

Path's allure is also its greatest obstacle. The company's mobile application specializes in a more intimate experience and limits its users to just 150 friends. … Read more

SoftBank turns up the heat on Dish over Sprint merger

As the bidding war between Dish and SoftBank for the merger of Sprint intensifies, SoftBank is pulling out all the stops to block Dish from getting in the way.

The Japanese wireless carrier launched a new Web site on Tuesday pointing out the reasons it believes it should be the company to acquire Sprint. It also funded a study (pdf) for an industry expert to question the benefits that Dish claims would come from its Sprint merger.

Sprint has been in talks with SoftBank since last October regarding a $20.1 billion offer, but as the closing date neared, Dish … Read more

SoftBank: Our Sprint bid is better for this reason -- TD-LTE

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son says his company's $20.1 billion acquisition offer is best for Sprint, even though Dish Nework's bid is higher.

Speaking Tuesday at an event in Tokyo, Son told reporters the LTE network efficiencies that his company can bring to Sprint would dramatically improve the value of Sprint's network to customers. And that's all because of an LTE variant that Softbank already uses, called TD-LTE.

Softbank has been using TD-LTE for quite some time, and as Son points out, it's doing so in Japan "on a large scale."

TD (Time … Read more