Sprint Nextel pulls out of SpectrumCo JV

Sprint Nextel Corp. is pulling out of the joint venture it formed with four cable companies to participate in the Advanced Wireless Services spectrum auction last year, but said the move has long been planned and does not reflect a change in carrier’s strategy.
According to a Sprint Nextel spokesman, the change does not affect the operations of its Pivot offering, a separate cable joint venture to provide wireless and converged services, which is currently available in 19 markets and is expected to launch in up to 40 markets this year. Sprint Nextel also provides Voice over IP services for its cable partners.
Sprint Nextel had been a minor partner in SpectrumCo L.L.C. to begin with, holding only a 5% non-voting stake, and had the right to withdraw from the venture. The JV was the third-largest bidder in the AWS auction, spending nearly $2.4 billion on 137 licenses that cover almost 270 million potential customers.
It’s unclear what the remaining members of the SpectrumCo joint venture-which includes Comcast Corp. (which owns around halfof the JV) and Time Warner Cable (which owns around a third)-plan to do with the spectrum.