Agreement had been endorsed by Sprint CEO Dan Hesse but was nixed by board just hours before it was a done deal, reports CNBC
Sprint was just hours away from acquiring Metro PCS in an $8 billion
deal when Sprint's board nixed the agreement, CNBC is reporting.
Citing unnamed sources, CNBC's David Faber said
the two companies had been working on the plan for months and that a
deal was expected to be announced after Sprint's board met late
Wednesday. Metro PCS shareholders would have received Sprint shares and
some cash, amounting to ownership of about a third of the combined
company, Faber said.
It's not clear why the board demurred, Faber said, adding that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse had endorsed the plan and that regulatory concerns were apparently not the reason.
A deal would have brought Sprint more spectrum, along with Metro PCS' 9.3 million subscribers. However, as The Verge's Chris Ziegler points out, much of MetroPCS's spectrum is in the AWS band, which Sprint doesn't currently use--making integration that much trickier.
Sprint plans to launch its 4G LTE service, part of its Network Vision upgrade plan, in 10 markets by the first half of the year. It's playing catch-up with Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which are well under way with their own LTE deployments.
Citing unnamed sources, CNBC's David Faber said
the two companies had been working on the plan for months and that a
deal was expected to be announced after Sprint's board met late
Wednesday. Metro PCS shareholders would have received Sprint shares and
some cash, amounting to ownership of about a third of the combined
company, Faber said.It's not clear why the board demurred, Faber said, adding that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse had endorsed the plan and that regulatory concerns were apparently not the reason.
A deal would have brought Sprint more spectrum, along with Metro PCS' 9.3 million subscribers. However, as The Verge's Chris Ziegler points out, much of MetroPCS's spectrum is in the AWS band, which Sprint doesn't currently use--making integration that much trickier.
Sprint plans to launch its 4G LTE service, part of its Network Vision upgrade plan, in 10 markets by the first half of the year. It's playing catch-up with Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which are well under way with their own LTE deployments.
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