Charter Communications, Comcast in partnership discussions with Sprint: reports

US wireless carrier Sprint Corp is in discussions with Charter Communications and Comcast Corp about a partnership that is expected to boost the two US cable companies' wireless offerings, according to sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Sprint, controlled by Japan's SoftBank Group, had entered into a two-month period of exclusive negotiations with Charter and Comcast that had put its merger talks with US wireless peer T-Mobile US Inc on hold till the end of July, the sources said yesterday.

Comcast and Charter are now discussing a similar network-resale agreement with Sprint on better terms, according to the sources. According to one of the sources, a previous nine-year-old network-resale agreement between Comcast and Sprint was never activated.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the negotiations, Charter and Comcast were in preliminary talks to take an equity stake in Sprint as part of an agreement. The newspaper added that a deal of the kind would allow Sprint to invest more in its network.