Sprint Nextel May have Problems with iDEN

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Sprint Nextel CDMA affiliate iPCS claimed victory in a lawsuit that could force Sprint Nextel to divest itself of its iDEN operations in the affiliate’s territory. Sprint took control of the iDEN network when it acquired Nextel last year.

The Circuit Court of Cook County ruled that iPCS never would have spent over $300 million to build out a CDMA network if the affiliate thought that it would have to compete with its parent company in any way. Further, the judge said Sprint Nextel’s past presentations to its investors and affiliates had indicated that the affiliates would have access to all the spectrum available to Sprint Nextel, not just its holdings in the 1900 MHz band.

So the court opted instead to require Sprint Nextel to produce plans for divesting the iDEN network within iPCS’ territory.