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US Softbank UPDATE1(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) NEW YORK, July 6 -- (Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING SOFTBANK CEO COMMENT AND OTHER INFO) The Federal Communications Commission announced its approval Friday of Softbank Corp.'s acquisition of the third-largest U.S. mobile carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. The FCC, which also cleared Sprint Nextel's move to increase its stake in wireless Internet provider Clearwire Corp. to 100 percent, said it had determined that approval of the transactions would serve the public interest. "We find that these proposed transactions are not likely to result in competitive or other public interest harms in the provision of mobile wireless services," it said. Softbank Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said the company's investment in Sprint will "enable us to begin creating a true competitor in a market dominated by two companies," referring to the big two U.S. mobile telecommunications providers AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint's move to wholly own Clearwire is expected to be approved at a meeting of Clearwire shareholders on Monday. Softbank will acquire about 78 percent of Sprint shares for $21.6 billion. U.S. satellite television provider Dish Network Corp. had challenged Softbank's bid, but abandoned the effort late last month. (c) 2013 Kyodo News International, Inc. |