SoftBank and Sprint Nextel urged the FCC Thursday...
SoftBank and Sprint Nextel urged the FCC Thursday to sign off on the first company’s proposed buy of 78 percent ownership of the second “without delay.” They said there’s “no factual or legal basis” for Dish Network’s claims Wednesday that…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
the FCC should delay their consideration of the deal through a new public notice and comment period because of SoftBank’s revised $21.6 billion bid. SoftBank and Sprint have already given the FCC “a full description of the changes to the proposed transaction and an analysis of the minimal impact of those changes on the public interest benefits of the transaction,” the companies said. SoftBank’s revised bid offers “many public interest benefits” on top of SoftBank’s proposed investment in Sprint’s network, including expertise in deploying LTE and improved access to technology that will make the No. 3 U.S. carrier more competitive with Verizon Wireless and AT&T, SoftBank and Sprint said. Dish also claimed Wednesday that the FCC needs to conduct additional review because SoftBank’s revised bid will further restrict U.S. ownership in Sprint (http://bit.ly/1a5hujz). That claim is “nonsensical,” SoftBank and Sprint said. “There is nothing in the stockholder’s rights plan that says anything about whether U.S. citizens or corporations can own Sprint stock. Dish’s claim here is but one more attempt to invoke a xenophobic reaction that is wholly at odds with the Commission’s policy to presume that foreign investment from WTO countries is in the public interest.”