Sprint is looking into buying Clearwire, its infrastructure partner, according to a new report.
America’s third-largest wireless carrier is talking with cable companies – Comcast in particular – about further investment in Clearwire, something that could lead to a merger. So say the famous three “people familiar with the talks" who discussed the matter with Bloomberg.
Sprint, which already owns a little more than half of Clearwire, is talking with not only Comcast, but also fellow investors Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks about buying them out, the report says. Clearwire, which has been losing money while building out its high-speed wireless network, has plans to spend $600 million on an upgrade from WiMAX to LTE in order to compete with the likes of Verizon Wireless – whose LTE network already reaches half the country – and AT&T – whose LTE network is expected to debut any day now.
The sources said talks are preliminary at this point and nothing is imminent. Cox and Cablevision are also said to be involved in the discussion.
Spokespeople from Sprint, Clearwire and several cable companies refused to comment on the report. The news has been good for Clearwire’s stock price thus far. As of 11:55 a.m. ET, it’s up 30 percent, to $3.01 per share. Sprint’s has been largely unaffected by the news, up 2 cents, or 0.43 percent.
