US cable giant Charter Communications has stated that it is not interested in pursuing a deal with domestic mobile operator Sprint, effectively quashing recent merger speculation. According to Bloomberg, Masayoshi Son – chairman of Sprint parent SoftBank Group Corp – had proposed combining his US cellco with Charter, the country’s second largest cableco by subscribers, in a cash and stock merger. The idea called for the creation of a new publicly traded company that would combine Sprint and Charter and be controlled by SoftBank, people familiar with the plans told the new agency. That new merged company would then attempt to buy T-Mobile US, the sources added.
A Charter spokesperson commented: ‘We understand why a deal is attractive for SoftBank, but Charter has no interest in acquiring Sprint.’ The source declined to comment on whether Charter would entertain an outright takeover bid from SoftBank, however, although a sale would seem to be highly unlikely.