So, in the latest chapter of the SoftSprint-Clearwire-Dish matrimonial saga, it looks like SoftSprint will indeed take Clearwire to the alter.
Yesterday, Sprint (which had sued Clearwire just three days before to block the sale to Dish) decided to up its offer from $3.40 to $5.00, topping Dish’s offer of $4.40.
Just to make sure that Clearwire doesn’t take the ring off the finger one more time, Sprint’s amended marriage proposal contract with Clearwire provides for Clearwire to pay Sprint a break-up fee of $115 million should Clearwire get cold feet…again.
I have to imagine that there were some very interesting conversations between Japan and Kansas about what would happen to the value of the SoftSprint deal if Clearwire went off and married Dish. Soft needs Clearwire’s frequency allotments to make its Sprint purchase ‘reasonable’…it didn’t need cash nearly as much. Soft so much as signed that point exactly when it made noises yesterday about making a run for T-Metro if the SofSprint deal collapses.
Lest anyone be unclear:
- Clearwire is all about licensed frequencies for LTE; not WiMax, facilities or customers;
- Sprint only makes sense with Clearwire’s licensed frequencies; forget about the cash;
- SoftSprint only makes sense with Sprint’s sites being upgraded to Network Vision and getting control of Clearwire’s licensed frequencies.
There you go!
