Japan’s SoftBank can bid for Sprint
May 30, 2013
By Chris Forrester
US telco Sprint and Japan’s SoftBank have announced that SoftBank has been granted approval by the USA’s Committee on Foreign Investment to proceed with their merger proposal for Sprint.
This does not mean that SoftBank’s bid for Sprint is a done deal. However, the announcement appears to bury any anxieties that SoftBank’s links to China do not worry America’s lawmakers too much.
Indeed, should a deal be finalised between the two, Sprint says that a dedicated independent Board Member would be appointed to serve as Security Director and thus allay any fears that China-based ‘Cyber-crime’ would be monitored.
The SoftBank-Sprint bid now goes before the FCC, and seems to put EchoStar’s bid to one side. Sprint and SoftBank say they will close their agreed deal by July 1st this year.