According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Verizon Wireless is negotiating a deal with Clearwire to lease its spectrum. Verizon allegedly offered Clearwire $1.5 billion to use some of Clearwire’s spectrum in larger markets.
This offer was disclosed in Clearwire’s recent SEC filing, with insiders claiming that the bidder, “party J,” is Verizon Wireless. This deal may not go through as Clearwire is in a precarious financial position. Sprint owns a majority stake in the wireless carrier, and wants to purchase the company outright.
Sprint is also being pursued by Japan’s Softbank, which has put in a bid to acquire the US wireless carrier. If all these deals go through, then Verizon will be negotiating a leasing deal with a Softbank-controlled Sprint. It’s unclear whether such a deal would go through under those conditions.
[Via Wall Street Journal]