Sprint to buy affiliate

Sprint this week said it will acquire its second largest wireless affiliate, US Unwired, for $1.3 billion.

The acquisition will put two separate legal actions that US Unwired has against Sprint to bed after the deal closes. In 2003, US Unwired filed a suit in Louisiana alleging racketeering and breach of contract.

Just last month US Unwired also filed an injunction to block Sprint’s merger with Nextel. The affiliate has now filed a stay with the courts regarding both actions.

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Sprint this week said it will acquire its second largest wireless affiliate, US Unwired, for $1.3 billion.

The acquisition will put two separate legal actions that US Unwired has against Sprint to bed after the deal closes. In 2003, US Unwired filed a suit in Louisiana alleging racketeering and breach of contract.

Just last month US Unwired also filed an injunction to block Sprint’s merger with Nextel. The affiliate has now filed a stay with the courts regarding both actions.

Sprint has a total of 10 wireless affiliates that serve 3.4 million Sprint customers. The largest is Alamosa, which serves 1.4 million Sprint wireless users. US Unwired serves 505,000 in 48 markets across nine states. The company has about 600 employees and reported revenue of $408 million in 2004.

Sprint says it will acquire all of US Unwired’s outstanding common stock and assume the service providers net debt, which is about $266 million.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Sprint and US Unwired expect the deal to close in the third quarter.

Sprint’s merger deal with Nextel is expected to close later this summer. The service providers originally announced their plans in December.

Read more about wireless/mobile in Network World's Wireless/Mobile section.