sprint nextel

Sprint continues to undergo the painful and awkward transition of shutting down its Nextel network.

The Overland Park, Kan., wireless provider on Wednesday reported a first-quarter loss of $643 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with a loss of $863 million, or 29 cents a share, from a year ago.

Revenue, meanwhile, edged up slightly to $8.79 billion from $8.73 billion a year ago.

The results compare to the loss of 33 cents a share and revenue of $8.71 billion that analysts had projected, according to Thomson Reuters.

Sprint lost a net 415,000 subscribers in … Read more

Dish founder Charlie Ergen is clearly a massive "Seinfeld" fan.

Ergen wasn't shy about providing a shout-out to Jerry Seinfeld's classic situation comedy in discussing Dish's proposed $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel.

In fact, Ergen compared his strategy to an episode of Seinfeld: 28 minutes filled with a lot of scenes that don't make sense, and a final two minutes where everything comes together.

For Dish, Sprint represents that final two minutes. The deal would be the linchpin to a strategy that Ergen said has been in the works for years. Ergen, … Read more

T-Mobile and Dish Network may be the next two companies to walk down the aisle.

Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen informally talked to T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom, about a potential deal, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Deutsche Telekom, in turn, is considering a deal with Sprint Nextel, but may look to Dish if that merger falls through, the report said.

A deal would give Dish what it has badly coveted for a while: access to an actual wireless network that it can pair with its own satellite-TV service. With the satellite-TV business stagnating, Dish could lean on the faster-growing … Read more

Virgin Mobile wants consumers to know that it's a major player in the no-contract wireless game too, and isn't afraid to spend a little money to show it.

Virgin set its sights directly on T-Mobile, offering $100 to T-Mobile customers willing to switch their number over and buy a smartphone before May 31.

Carriers will often provide incentives to switch, but rarely do they target a specific company. T-Mobile has made a lot of noise about its move to abolish contracts and subsidies, and Virgin Mobile, a business built on prepaid service and a unit of Sprint Nextel, … Read more

Sprint probably can't wait to excise the Nextel part of its business.

The Overland Park, Kan., wireless carrier reported hefty fourth-quarter subscriber losses on the Nextel side, with more than 1 million customers leaving the service, easily offsetting the gains made on its core Sprint business. In total, it lost 337,000 net customers.

Sprint posted a loss of $1.32 billion, or 44 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $1.3 billion, or 43 cents a share. Revenue, however, rose to $9 billion.

The results were better than expected. Analysts, on average, forecast a per-share … Read more

Sprint Nextel played the field a bit before committing to a merger with SoftBank, according to a merger proxy document filed by Sprint this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The nation's third-largest wireless carrier had discussions with at least four companies, though the specific names weren't revealed.

The wheeling and dealing underscores the trend toward industry consolidation, spurred partly by competition, as well as by the need for more wireless spectrum. Sprint, in particular, was in both a financial and spectrum bind prior to the SoftBank deal.

Before the SoftBank deal, Sprint had discussions with "… Read more

Dish Network made an unsolicited bid to buy Clearwire for $5.15 billion, upping the ante for Sprint Nextel, which entered into an agreement last month to purchase the 50 percent of the wireless broadband provider it does not already own.

Dish is offering $3.30 per share for all outstanding shares in Clearwire, about 11 percent more than Sprint's offer, and a 13 percent premium over today's closing stock price. The stock price was up 23 cents, or 7.8 percent, to $3.15 a share in after-hours trading.

Sprint announced in December that the two companies … Read more

Talks between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are heating up.

Sprint confirmed via a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made public today that it is in talks with Clearwire to buy out the remaining stake in the upstart wireless provider that it doesn't already own.

The company said it believes that it would cost $2.1 billion to buy out the remaining 49 percent stake in Clearwire, valuing the company at $2.90 a share, or a 5.5 percent premium to its closing price on Wednesday.

Clearwire also submitted a filing confirming the talks, but declined to … Read more

Sprint Nextel may be moving closer to taking full control of 4G wireless provider Clearwire, according to CNBC.

The two companies are in active negotiations, and Sprint has been talking with some of Clearwire's big-name shareholders, including Intel and Comcast, in taking full control of the company, CNBC reported, citing unnamed sources.

A deal isn't imminent, but an announcement could come by the end of the year, the report said.

Representatives from both Sprint and Clearwire declined to comment.

Sprint is looking to scoop up the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire's stock it doesn't already hold, … Read more