The FCC is expected to vote on the proposed $28.1 billion Verizon Wireless-Alltel merger as well as the Sprint-Clearwire deal, which will create the new Clearwire, when it meets on Nov. 4.
These proposed mergers have been in the regulatory pipeline for months. The Clearwire deal, a merger of the current Clearwire and Sprint's Xohm business, will create a new WiMAX service provider. The proposed partnership has a $3.2 billion investment backing from numerous companies, including Google, Intel, Time Warner, Comcast and others.
Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff said he expected the deal to pass and saw no reason why it wouldn't. "If you take a look at what the merger transaction accomplishes, it really accomplishes so many of the major policy objectives that both Democrats and Republicans on the Hill have had as well as at the FCC," he said Wednesday at FierceWireless' virtual event, The Future of 4G. "It's frankly hard to find fault with the transaction from a regulatory perspective."
Wolff said the new company will foster nationwide broadband access and will help the United States catch up to other companies that have been offering similar services for years.
"I don't think we've expected anything but a regulatory review and approval sometime in the fourth quarter time-frame, so from my perspective everything is on track," he said.
For more:
- see this article
- click here to access coverage of the 4G event
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