There were unconfirmed reports that Charter Communications, a cable company, may acquire Sprint, one of the most well-known mobile networks in the United States. However, Charter was quick to address these speculations and a company spokesperson completely denied having any interest in forming such a merger. In an interview with Wall Street Journal, the spokesperson claimed that even though such a deal would be beneficial to SoftBank Group, the owner of Sprint, Charter is not looking to acquire the wireless carrier.
Charter says it is not interested in acquiring Sprint
Sprint is the fourth largest carrier in the country but the company has been going through its share of problems, with numerous debts and unprofitable business ventures. This is why the carrier was rumored to have proposed a deal with Charter Communications. However, Charter’s disinterest in such a merger is now well-established thanks to the comments from the cable company. After this announcement went public, Sprint shares fell by 11 cents and stood at $8.11 in the morning trading on July 31. However, Charter, who owns Spectrum also known as Time Warner Cable, saw its share prices increase by 4.5 percent.
Analysts also pointed out that not only would the deal between a cable company and the network operator be disruptive, it is also quite unlikely that the deal would go through.
Sprint, has over the years accumulated a lot of debt in the industry and such a deal with Charter would have likely helped it pay off some of those outstanding funds. However, analysts believe that this rejection from Charter may indicate some hidden motive on the part of the cable company.
Previous merger reports between Sprint and T-Mobile
Earlier in the year, there were various reports coming in that Sprint had proposed a merger with rival carrier, T-Mobile. However, the former put the talks on hold when it tried to establish a deal between itself and cable companies like Comcast and Charter. Now that Charter has revealed a complete disinterest in such a merger, Sprint will likely have all its hopes pinned on Comcast.
The carrier did not comment on Charter’s stance.
Combining mobile network and cable makes sense in the modern days as more and more consumers are using the internet on their phones or tablets to access or stream videos. If a deal is chalked out between the two companies, then the cable content can also be offered to people using that particular network on their phones. Comcast already has a similar deal with Verizon, although no offer has been devised yet.
