After deciding that the purchase of MetroPCS would be too costly, Sprint Nextel (S) is instead heading back to the capital markets with a plan to raise $2 billion to pay for network upgrades, refinance existing debt, and possibly continue funding Clearwire. Sprint Nextel owns 54% of Clearwire and helped the troubled wholesaler of WiMAX mobile broadband services avoid missing a debt payment late last year.
Sprint hopes to raise $2 billion through a private placement of 5-year notes at 9.13% and 8-year notes at 7.0%. The offering comes just three months after Sprint raised $4 billion in debt last year. Part of that money was used to help Clearwire.
Clearwire is trying to transition from WiMAX to TD-LTE. Its other investors include Intel Capital, Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Google was also a Clearwire investor, but late last week the search engine giant announced that it will sell its stake in Clearwire for a fraction of what it paid.
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