US federal regulators have approved the $35 billion merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications. Approvals from federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the FCC, paved the way for Sprint Nextel to become the nation's third-largest wireless carrier with 44.6 million subscribers, behind only Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless. Sprint and Nextel will use two different network technologies, CDMA2000 and iDEN. Now all that remains is sorting out the issues with their respective affiliates. Nextel Partners has agreed to arbitration and ended its suit against Nextel, while Sprint has received approval to buy one of its affiliates and is working on deals with the others.
For more on the approval of the Sprint, Nextel merger:
- read this article from The New York Times