Sprint's Hesse: DOJ Lawsuit Against AT&T, T-Mobile Won't Prevent Consolidation
Sprint Nextel (NYS: S) CEO Dan Hesse said that the Department of Justice's lawsuit to block AT&T's (NYS: T) proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA -- which Sprint has joined -- won't necessarily prevent future industry consolidation.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, Hesse said any potential T-Mobile buyer will need to demonstrate that the benefits of removing T-Mobile from the market will outweigh the downsides. And while Hesse said he was not indicating that Sprint would pursue a merger with T-Mobile should the deal fall through, he said, "you could make a very, very strong argument" that combining two value wireless players would give the combined company the scale to compete better with AT&T and Verizon (NYS: VZ) Wireless.
The Sprint chief said he would not comment on the 4G network strategies the company plans to discuss at an Oct. 7 investor conference in New York, but did set the stage for what the company might talk about. Hesse said Sprint might lay out a concrete technical plan for how to do network hosting arrangements via its Network Vision architecture, which is centered around new, multi-mode base stations that can support LTE. He also said Sprint will likely discuss whether it will provide additional financial assistance to Clearwire (NAS: CLWR) , which sells mobile WiMAX service to Sprint and in which Sprint holds a 54 percent stake. Clearwire has said it can deploy a TD-LTE network overlay if it can secure an additional $600 million in financing.
And Hesse obliquely touched on reports that Sprint will launch Apple's (NAS: AAPL) iPhone 5 next month. Without confirming anything, Hesse said Sprint's financial guidance might have to be updated if is fourth-quarter handset lineup changed. "Theoretically, if we were to secure such a device, we may have to adjust guidance accordingly for that," he said.
This article originally published here. Get your wireless industry briefing here.
Related Articles:
At the time thisarticle was published The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of AT&T and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a bull call spread position in Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
