The US’ third-largest carrier, Sprint Corp, might consider selling its wireline business, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said during an earnings conference call earlier this week. Claure noted that the Softbank-owned telco is conducting a “pretty deep…
The US’ third-largest carrier, Sprint Corp, might consider selling its wireline business, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said during an earnings conference call earlier this week.
Claure noted that the Softbank-owned telco is conducting a “pretty deep review” of its wireline assets, reportedly valued at around US$4bn.
“So we are open – our door is always open to talk to someone in regards to that asset. And although there it does take some work to separate it et cetera it is something that we are open to discuss,” Sprint CFO Joe Euteneuer added.
Potential suitors for the assets might reportedly include Level 3 Communications, which last week completed its acquisition of TW Telecom, CenturyLink and Windstream, which is in the process of spinning off its wireline assets into a real estate investment trust (REIT).
In mid-September, freshly-appointed Claure was quoted as saying that the operator was seeking partners to boost its operations, following the failed T-Mobile US consolidation talks.
These partners could include cable and over-the-top companies as well as wireless carriers to expand its reach and benefit from economies of scale, he reportedly noted.
Following his appointment in early August, Claure had said: “In the short term, we will focus on becoming extremely cost efficient and competing aggressively in the marketplace. While consolidating makes sense in the long term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint.”
Claure replaced Dan Hesse, who had led Sprint since 2007.
