IPCS claims victory in latest squabble with Sprint Nextel

The battle between Sprint Nextel Corp. and its subsidiary iPCS Wireless Inc. rages on, with iPCS gaining some yardage.
The affiliate announced that an Illinois court denied Sprint Nextel’s motion to dismiss or stay the lawsuit brought by three iPCS subsidiaries in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. IPCS slapped Sprint Nextel with a lawsuit after the carrier announced a planned WiMAX transaction with Clearwire Corp. IPCS said that the partnership breached affiliation agreements the subsidiaries had initially agreed upon with Sprint Nextel. IPCS’ subsidiaries are seeking an injunction against the Sprint Nextel/Clearwire tie up until it complies with the affiliation agreements.
The ruling does not grant an injunction against Sprint Nextel and Clearwire, and only allows the subsidiaries to be heard.
In an effort to protect itself after the partnership announcement, Sprint Nextel filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against iPCS and its involved subsidiaries in the State of Delaware. Sprint Nextel wanted a declaration stating that the WiMAX venture would not constitute a breach of the three separate Sprint Nextel affiliation agreements. IPCS is seeking its own declaration in Delaware, saying that the partnership would indeed breach agreements Sprint Nextel and the iPCS affiliates had earlier established. The Delaware courts have not yet ruled.
The WiMAX issue isn’t the first litigation road bump Sprint Nextel and iPCS have hit. IPCS had a similar problem with Sprint Corp.’s acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc. in 2005. Like the previous issue, iPCS said the current WiMAX deal would breach Sprint Nextel’s exclusivity obligation to iPCS that prohibits Sprint Nextel from marketing wireless services in iPCS’ markets.
The Circuit Court of Cook Country ruled in favor of iPCS in the previous lawsuit, ordering Sprint Nextel to cease owning, operating and managing the iDEN network in iPCS’ territories and that Sprint Nextel would have to continue to comply with all agreements between the two companies, setting forth certain limitations on Sprint Nextel’s operations following the Nextel deal.
Sprint Nextel appealed this decision, only to have it affirmed by an appellate court earlier this year. Sprint Nextel followed up by filing a petition for leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Illinois. That decision is pending.