FCC Approves of Softbank, Sprint and Clearwire Buyouts

The FCC approved of Softbank's buyout of Sprint as well as Sprint's buyout of Clearwire on Friday.

FCC Chair Mignon Clyburn believed the deal "serve the public interest" as it would "accelerate the deployment of mobile broadband services and enhance competition."

This decision completes all Federal government reviews of both SoftBank’s investment in Sprint and Sprint’s acquisition of Clearwire. Sprint’s shareholders approved the SoftBank transaction with Sprint on June 25th. Clearwire’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Sprint transaction with Clearwire, which has been recommended by Clearwire’s Board of Directors, on July 8th.


Congress was worried about this deal, primarily because they feared Softbank would use Chinese equipment in the US. Softbank has agreed not to as terms of the deal. Softbank will have a 78% stake in Sprint for $21.6 billion. Sprint's bid to buy out the rest of Clearwire will face a shareholder vote July 8.

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