Sprint Allegedly In Talks To Buyout Clearwire For LTE

Sprint is reportedly in talks with cable companies to buyout Clearwire, which has recently announced adoption of 4G LTE and its need for funding to build out the new network. The carrier is already invested in Clearwire, but may seek to buyout the remaining portion of the company and may do so jointly with Comcast and other cable partners.

According to Bloomberg, three people familiar with the situation say that the carrier is still in

early talks and that there could be several scenarios. Sprint could raise funding among cable partners such as Comcast, Cablevision, and Cox, to jointly buyout Clearwire or simply invest further in the company. Clearwire has stated before that it needs an additional $600 million in order to build out its LTE network.

This deal with Sprint may be appealing for cable companies as it would allow them to compete more effectively against telephone rivals such as AT&T and Verizon, which both offer landline, wireless, internet and TV bundles. This deal is especially significant for Sprint as it is now struggling in third place and could be in big trouble should the AT&T and T-Mobile merger go through. Having a more popular LTE network over its WiMAX network will help it compete.

[via Bloomberg]