Verizon Wireless not interested in Sprint Nextel: Verizon CEO
22 Mar 2011
According to the chief executive of Verizon Wireless, the company had no interest in buying Sprint Nextel Corp even as it stands to lose its top position in the US wireless market because of a merger between AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA.
Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead added that he would not oppose AT&T's plans to acquire Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.
He said the company was concentrating on its goal of emerging as the most profitable US wireless operator and would not be distracted by the moves of competitors. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communication and Vodafone Group.
Mead told Reuters ahead of the CTIA Wireless Conference that Verizon was not interested in Sprint and did not need it.
Under a plan announced on Sunday AT&T would buy T-Mobile USA in a mega deal that would create a new US mobile market.
With the acquisition AT&T would overtake Verizon Wireless its largest rival, to emerge as the biggest US mobile-phone carrier. Between them AT&T and T-Mobile hold a 39 per cent share of the market, according to research firm EMarketer Inc. (See: AT&T awaits regulators' nod for $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile)
