Sprint In Talks With Comcast; T-Mobile Deal Put Aside

Shares of Sprint Corp S were trading higher by around 4 percent early Tuesday morning after reportedly being in talks with Charter Communications, Inc. CHTR and Comcast Corporation CMCSA to form a partnership.

The three companies are working on a potential deal in which the cable companies will offer wireless services on Sprint's network, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening. The talks could also explore the possibility of Charter and Comcast jointly acquiring Sprint outright or at the very least buying a minority equity investment.

Sprint's chairman Masayoshi Son will continue talking with the two cable firms through late July, the report added.

Comcast and Charter are looking to secure a network-resale agreement with Sprint, a Reuters report noted. Comcast already announced a deal with Verizon Communications Inc. VZ for wireless service through its Wi-Fi hotspots and Verizon's airwaves, but it may be counting on Sprint to provide a similar agreement with better terms.

Given the exclusive talks among three companies, Sprint's potential merger with T-Mobile US Inc TMUS is now on hold. However, an agreement between Sprint and the cable network doesn't mean Sprint can't also seek a merger agreement with T-Mobile, Reuters added.

Shares of T-Mobile were trading lower by around 5 percent Tuesday morning.

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A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Decline Ahead Of Fed Speakers, Economic Data ______ Image Credit: Corey Coyle [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons