US: Sprint explores partnership with Comcast and Charter

US wireless carrier Sprint is in talks with Charter Communications and Comcast about a partnership to boost the two US cable companies’ wireless offerings, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Sprint, controlled by Japan’s SoftBank Group, has entered into a two-month period of exclusive negotiations with Charter and Comcast that has put its merger talks with US wireless peer T-Mobile US on hold until the end of July, the sources said on Monday.

A deal with Sprint would build on a partnership that Charter and Comcast announced last month. The two cable operators have agreed that they would not do deals in the wireless space for a year without each other’s consent.

Comcast has already unveiled plans for a wireless service, using its Wi-Fi hotspots and the airwaves of Verizon Communications, the largest US telecommunications provider, based on a deal between the two that dates back to 2011.

Comcast and Charter are now in talks with Sprint to secure a similar network-resale agreement on better terms, the sources said. A previous nine-year-old network-resale agreement between Comcast and Sprint was never activated, one of the sources added.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the negotiations, also said that Charter and Comcast were in preliminary talks to take an equity stake in Sprint as part of an agreement. Such a deal would allow Sprint to invest more in its network, the newspaper added.

Full Content: Wall Street Journal

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