Sprint Corp. said it intends to close on its pending $35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc. Aug. 12. The deal garnered Federal Communications Commission approval last week, and according to Sprint, has received all required regulatory approvals.
The combined Sprint Nextel Corp. will serve more than 40 million wireless subscribers, and according to Sprint will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “S” ticker symbol beginning Aug. 15.
In approving the transaction, which was first announced last December, the FCC did not require either carrier to divest spectrum, network assets or customers. The government agency noted that there will continue to be “several other carriers with the ability to add subscribers and act as effective competitive constraints on the behavior of the merged entity.”
The deal has raised the ire of several of Sprint’s wireless affiliates that claim the combined Sprint Nextel Corp. will violate several clauses of their affiliate agreements. Sprint has settled several of the claims, but as of today, still has claims pending against it.
