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Thursday, March 28, 2013

U.S. to review equipment purchases to approve Sprint deal - WSJ, (NYSE: S)

The U.S. government is seeking oversight of network equipment purchases as a condition to approve the $20 billion takeover of Sprint Nextel Corp by Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The government is expected to require the companies to notify it when they plan to purchase equipment for the core of their network and to cooperate if any national security or public safety considerations arise, the people told the paper.Chinese telecommunications equipment suppliers like Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second-largest maker of routers and other telecom gear, and ZTE Corp, the fifth largest, have been blocked out from making big inroads into the United States due to national security concerns.Sprint and Softbank are willing to forgo use of Huawei and ZTE gear in the core of their U.S. network, said a person who has spoken with Sprint to the Journal, even though trade rules cannot prohibit purchases from these companies."The adoption of such a policy would seem little more than a market-distorting political or protectionist exercise," Huawei spokesman William Plummer told the Journal, referring to a review of equipment purchases that could exclude Huawei.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint) is a holding company, with its operations primarily conducted by its subsidiaries. Shares of S fell by 0.17% or $-0.01/share to $6.04. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $2.30 and as high as $6.22. On average, 37640200 shares of S exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 40179744.



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