OVERLAND PARK (dpa-AFX) - Sprint Corp. (S) and T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) are working on a plan to raise roughly $10 billion to spend in an auction of wireless airwaves, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The companies, which have been discussing a possible merger since last year, are planning to form a joint venture that will bid in a 2015 auction of airwaves held by television broadcasters, the Journal quoted the people as saying.
The funds are part of a roughly $45 billion financing package being put together by Japan's SoftBank Corp. to finance Sprint's acquisition of T-Mobile, the people said, according to the Journal.
The Journal said T-Mobile would oversee the venture, a concession from Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son during the merger talks, and that an announcement of the merger could come this summer, citing people familiar with the matter.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX