Loon graduated from the X Moonshot Factory last year to become a full-fledged Alphabet company. SoftBank-owned HAPSMobile today announced a $125 million Loon investment as part of a long-term strategic relationship into high altitude networks.
In addition to unlocked availability online, the Essential Phone will be sold through Sprint. As the “exclusive U.S carrier,” Sprint will be providing a “premium space to showcase” the device.
Over a year after reports first emerged that Alphabet was going to sell Boston Dynamics, a deal has finally been announced. SoftBank will be acquiring the robotics company, though exact details of the transaction have not been revealed.
A new Reuters report today shares that SoftBank is willing to hand over control of Sprint to Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile to make a merger happen, according to unnamed sources close to the matter. Discussions haven’t begun yet, but are expected to start in April after the FCC auction of airwaves and anti-collusion ban is over.
With Verizon and AT&T both fighting to keep customers with new unlimited plans this week and 5G networks on the horizon, a merger could be mutually beneficial for Sprint and T-Mobile.
ARM, the British chip designer responsible for the processors in loads of mobile devices, looks set to be bought by Japanese telecoms company Softbank.
The deal will need to be approved by shareholders, but with ARM recommending it and a valuation 43% above last week’s closing price, it looks likely to go through. It is, however, possible that other companies may make their own bid for the company.
Sprint announced on Friday that it has appointed former Google executive Nikesh Arora to the company’s board of directors. Arora worked at Google for a decade, leaving his post as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer in August to become Vice Chairman and CEO of Internet and Media at SoftBank, the parent company of Sprint.
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A lot changed at Sprint over the past few weeks, a new CEO, new service plans and phones from new hardware partners. It looks like that last item might continue being a trend going forward, as Reuters reports that the SoftBank-owned US wireless carrier is preparing to carry its first smartphone from Sony. The device in question is a “soon-to-be launched Xperia flagship,” which immediately makes us think of the rumored Z3.
After years of accusations of being proxy spies for Chinese military and intelligence agencies, Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei says his company is exiting the US market. In an interview provided to French journalists, the CEO of the worlds largest telecommunications equipment provider says his company will no longer fight to stay in the US market.
The FT reports that US satellite TV company Dish has made a counter-offer to the take-over bid launched last year by Japanese telecoms giant Softbank.
Dish is offering shareholders $7 in cash (versus $4.03 in Softbank’s offer), and claims that the overall offer of cash plus shares is worth 13% more than the proposed Softbank deal.
Update: AllThingsD is reporting that Softbank expects to complete the deal despite the rival bid, with Reuters suggesting that Softbank is unlikely to walk away even if forced to increase its bid.
According to a report from Nikkei (via Bloomberg), Japan’s Softbank, the third-largest mobile carrier in the country, is currently seeking to acquire two-thirds of U.S.-based Sprint Nextel Corp. The price is rumored at roughly $19 billion USD and would make AT&T the last fully U.S.-based carrier:
Softbank Corp. (9984), Japan’s third- largest mobile-phone company, is in talks to buy control ofSprint Nextel Corp. (S), according to two people familiar with the matter…The deal would give Softbank a base for entering the U.S. market with a compatible carrier that uses similar equipment made by Sweden’s Ericsson AB, the Nikkei reported.
For quite a while, Android users on many carriers in a handful of countries have had access to direct carrier billing for apps. Google is rolling out the option today to all content available through Google Play including music, movies, and books to certain carriers in the United States and Japan. While direct carrier billing is available to AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile (everyone but Verizon who operates its own Android store), Google’s announcement seems to indicate the expanded service will launch first on T-Mobile in the United States with Sprint coming soon. It will also roll out to Softbank, DoCoMo, and KDDI customers in Japan. You can check out a full list of countries and carriers that support direct billing here.
