Hasta La Gadget!

In case it wasn’t already obvious that Sprint sees Dish’s attempt to buy Clearwire as rather rude, the carrier made its irritation perfectly clear today. Sprint just sent a letter to Clearwire’s board of directors that claims the latest Dish buyout proposal violates Delaware laws relating to board control. Moreover, some of the proposal’s terms would reportedly need Sprint’s permission — which, as you’d imagine, isn’t exactly forthcoming. We’ve reached out to Dish for a response, although we’re not expecting the satellite giant to simply accept Sprint’s interpretation at face value. If Sprint is right, however, the objection could at least force Dish back to the drawing board.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: Wall Street Journal

Source: Sprint

Verizon has offered Clearwire up to $1.5bn to buy its wireless spectrum, news has leaked, with Big Red hoping to use the airwaves to broaden its own 4G deployment. Word of the proposed deal broke on Friday after a regulatory filing by Clearwire that kept the identify of its potential suitor anonymous; however, as first reported by the WSJ, sources claim that buyer is in fact Verizon.

The news puts Clearwire’s business back under the microscope, and is timely given the announcement by Dish Networks earlier today that it was bidding on carrier Sprint. Dish already had a standing bid in on Clearwire, though has blamed regulatory red-tape for the deal not going through, though the company’s chairman did confirm today that the offer was still standing and had not been withdrawn.

Clearwire currently offers 4G service in selected areas across the US, covering approximately 130m people by population. Although best known for its WiMAX network, the carrier has been building out an LTE network for the future; most recently, Sprint announced a plan to buy Clearwire in a deal worth $2.2bn.

According to the filing, Clearwire will discuss the proposed deal – exact terms of which have not been revealed – with Verizon (which it identifies only as “Party J”) and Sprint. The $1.5bn tag would be reduced by the current value of what Clearwire itself pays to lease the spectrum, something which the company has warned could be a “substantial” figure.

“On April 8, 2013, the Company received an unsolicited, non-binding written proposal from Party J, a strategic buyer, in which Party J offered to acquire Clearwire spectrum leases generally located in large markets that cover approximately 5 billion MHz-POPs at a gross price of approximately $1.0 to $1.5 billion, less the present value of the spectrum leases which could be substantial. The Special Committee will, consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, evaluate this proposal and any other proposal and engage in discussions with each of Party J and Sprint, as appropriate” Clearwire SEC filing

Adding to the complexity of the spectrum shuffling is the ongoing bid by Japanese carrier SoftBank for Sprint. The purchase is contingent on Sprint acquiring Clearwire, among other things.

Verizon offers $1.5bn in Clearwire spectrum grab is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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In the battle for Sprint’s heart, Dish Network always seemed to be stuck in the “friend zone”. That’s not the case anymore, however, now that Dish has quietly lobbed an informal $25.5 billion offer to purchase the carrier. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that after Dish was knocked-back in its attempts to buy Clearwire, the satellite TV company scrounged together the cash to beat Softbank’s multi billion dollar deal. If the bid is made formal, then Sprint’s board will have to decide if Softbank’s massive size and buckets of cash can be trumped by Dish’s spectrum reserves, pay-TV business and ability to skip commercials in a breeze.

Update: Dish clarified on a conference call that its bid for Clearwire is still on the table for the company to consider even if it was turned down, and that the Sprint offer is not contingent on the carrier closing out its Clearwire purchase. Should the deal go through, the plan is target underserved and rural customers, rather than competing with inner-city fiber-based services. Softbank may find itself beaten by the higher offer, but if Dish succeeds, the Japanese company would still hold around 5% of Sprint’s shares.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Wireless, HD, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: The Wall Street Journal

Source: Dish

Netflix has long been judging your ISP’s streaming quality, but you’ve had to dig around blog posts and other less accessible pages to get the low-down on just which networks reign supreme. Its new, dedicated ISP Speed Index page is much more straightforward: stop by and you’ll always have a quick glimpse of which internet providers are the most Netflix-friendly across key countries, with more detailed breakdowns for individual nations. Not that there’s been an upheaval in the pecking order, at least if you’re an American. Google Fiber was once again the clear US speed leader in February, while DSL and Clearwire’s WiMAX trailed the pack. The site mostly provides a handy point of reference for ISP shopping, even if it suggests that a cross-country (or cross-planet) move might be in order.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet

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Source: Netflix ISP Speed Index

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse isn’t so narrowly focused as to think that the proposed Clearwire acqusition represents the end of the road for spectrum. Far from it: he tells Bloomberg Businessweek that the company is investigating future airwave deals involving companies and government auctions. The Clearwire deal mostly bought time, according to Hesse. Naturally, these ambitions are partly contingent on both SoftBank’s purchase of Sprint and the absence of any Dish-sized hurdles to the Clearwire pact. As long as the path stays clear, though, we wouldn’t assume that Hesse’s shopping spree is over.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Source: Bloomberg Businessweek