FCC Action Still Pending on SoftBank/Sprint
Dish Network hasn’t dropped its bid for Sprint Nextel, but is refocusing on its bid for Clearwire, said the DBS company in a statement. FCC officials said Wednesday they have heard surprisingly little from the office of acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn on when it might circulate an order on SoftBank’s deal to buy most of Sprint.
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Wednesday was day 201 of the commission’s unofficial 180-day timeline for reviewing mergers. “I'm a bit mystified why the FCC has not acted on the Softbank/Sprint/Clearwire transactions by now,” said Jeff Silva, analyst at Medley Global Advisors. “While there has been a roller coaster of attempted positioning through various offers and counter-offers in the wireless space of late, it seems the FCC is largely obliged to address only those transactions before it irrespective of extracurricular activity in the market.”
"I'm not sure why this is taking so long, but you do have transition issues with a new chair,” said a wireless industry lawyer who doesn’t represent any of the parties in the transaction. “I would be very surprised if the approval doesn’t come out very quickly,” said public interest lawyer Andrew Schwartzman.
"While DISH continues to see strategic value in a merger with Sprint, the decisions made by Sprint to prematurely terminate our due diligence process and accept extreme deal protections in its revised agreement with SoftBank, among other things, have made it impracticable for DISH to submit a revised offer by the June 18th deadline imposed by Sprint,” said Dish in a statement Tuesday night. “We will consider our options with respect to Sprint, and focus our efforts and resources on completing the Clearwire tender offer.” SoftBank said it looks forward to receiving FCC and shareholder approvals.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, meanwhile, filed a letter at the FCC Wednesday saying the issues it raised last month on the effect of the transaction on minorities and women hasn’t been addressed (CED May 29 p5). “The record in this proceeding remains devoid of any information about how the proposed transaction would impact women and minorities and increase broadband access for underserved communities,” MMTC said.