Hasta La Gadget!

Softbank and Sprint have been on pins and needles ever since January, when the US Department of Justice asked the FCC to delay the carriers’ merger as it scrutinized the deal over national security concerns. The two networks can breathe a little easier this weekend, as the DOJ just dropped its request for more time. There’s “no objection” to the acquisition following a review, the agency says. Not that the companies are completely out of the woods: the FCC has to approve the buyout, and there’s still the small matters of Dish’s bids for both Sprint and Clearwire. Softbank may not want to drop its backup plan just yet.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: Computerworld

Source: FCC (PDF)

Arris has just received the go-ahead from the U.S. Department of Justice to acquire Motorola Home from Google. Arris issued a $2.35 billion proposal to purchase the Motorola Home broadband unit from Google, however, before Arris agreed to this deal, it required that Google limit its liability when it comes to the TiVo v. Motorola infringement case. If Motorola loses to TiVo in the case, the financial damage Arris will receive will be very minimal.

Arris’s acquisition of Motorola Home will be completed around April 17th. It will pay $2.05 billion to Google, and will give it $300 million in shares, which may be a much more important factor to Google than the money itself. However, originally, the $300 million in shares would have resulted with Google owning a 15.7% stake in the company, however, Arris recently announced that Comcast will also pay for a stake in the company. Comcast will be purchasing $150 million worth of shares from Arris when Arris completes its acquisition of Motorola Home. The deal will increase Google’s “cash consideration” by $150 million, but will also reduce its stake in the company to 7.85% and give Comcast an equal 7.85% stake in the company.

After the deal is finished, 7,000 Motorola employees will be transferred over to Arris. Google will be able to focus entirely on its mobile division. When it purchased Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., it only wanted the mobile patents from the deal, not the set-top box business. When Arris announced it was going to acquire Motorola Home back in December, Marwan Fawaz, the Executive VP of Motorola Mobility, stated,

“We share a similar vision and strategy with Arris for the industry’s migration to IP. The combination of our solutions, expert technologists, and roadmaps promises to transform how service providers deliver the smart, simple connected home to consumers throughout the world.”

Arris stated that Motorola Home will help it “triple sales”, grant it 2,000 patents, expand its customer base, and get its products out to the markets quicker. With the new patents it will be receiving, it will be able to sell new equipment “to customers whose cable-TV sets don’t support internet-video delivery.” It will also be able to branch out its sales to more customers, aside from those from Comcast or Time Warner. This acquisition is a win-win for everyone.

[via TechCrunch]

DoJ approves Arris’s $2.35B proposed acquisition of Motorola Home is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Department of Justice has provided the FCC with new recommendations for governing spectrum auctions, and with a heavy emphasis on leveling the playing field, the findings are likely to draw the ire of AT&T and Verizon. In its briefing, the DOJ made its case that the nation’s two largest carriers currently hold market power, which is due to the heavy concentration of lower frequency spectrum (below 1,000MHz) allocated to the two incumbents.

According to DOJ officials, “This results in the two smaller nationwide carriers having a somewhat diminished ability to compete, particularly in rural areas, where the cost to build out coverage is higher with high-frequency spectrum.” Although the DOJ never came right out and said it, one can easily surmise that it’s guiding the FCC to establish rules that favor smaller carriers — namely Sprint and T-Mobile — in future low-frequency spectrum auctions. In the DOJ’s opinion, an incumbent carrier would need to demonstrate both compelling evidence of capacity constraints and an efficient use of its current licenses in order to gain additional lower frequency spectrum. Otherwise, the opportunity exists for AT&T and Verizon to snap up licenses simply in attempt to harm competitors.

Given that the FCC and DOJ share the responsibility of ensuring competition in the marketplace, it seems unlikely that this latest brief will fall on deaf ears.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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Via: Reuters

Source: FCC (PDF)

It seems like Microsoft has landed itself in some hot waters. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Redmond based company is under investigation by the Securities and Exchanges Commission as well as the Department of Justice over claims that it has taken part in bribery in foreign countries, which include China. As of now the investigation is thought to be in its initial stages. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Microsoft Offering Windows Developers $100 In Cash For New Apps, Samsung VP Confirms Watch,

Back in October, it was announced that T-Mobile would be acquiring regional carrier MetroPCS, but the deal isn’t final just yet. It obviously has to pass through several government barriers before it can officially happen. However, there’s one less hurdle to jump now, as the Department of Justice has given the merger the green light.

Now that the Department of Justice is out of the way, the acquisition deal now needs to make its way through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Committee on Foreign Investment, and MetroPCS shareholders, who are scheduled to vote on the merger on April 12, as previously reported a couple days ago.

MetroPCS is obviously encouraging shareholders to vote yes, and they say that voting for the merger has the same effect as voting against it. T-Mobile says that if shareholders vote against the merger, “there is no assurance that MetroPCS will be able to deliver the same or better stockholder value.”

Executive boards at both carriers have already approved the merger, and T-Mobile aims to migrate all MetroPCS customers over to T-Mobile’s system by 2015. T-Mobile is the US’s 4th-largest carrier, with MetroPCS being the 5th largest. While the merger may not put T-Mobile in third place, it certainly give the carrier quite a boost that it’s been wanting.

[via eWeek]

T-Mobile, MetroPCS merger gets approval from Department of Justice is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.