Considering Sprint's financial position and the overall credit market, we're not exactly sure where the carrier managed to pick up $831 million, which it promptly used to acquire affiliate iPCS and take on $405 million of net debt. If you'll recall, the aforesaid youngin' was worrying papa way back in May of 2008, and it seems that Sprint has finally had enough of this whole "litigation" thing. The acquisition puts all of the court battling to rest (or at least it's expected to), enabling the operator to stop divesting its iDEN network in select iPCS markets. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure buys a good muzzle.

[Via Reuters]

With T-Mobile UK and Orange now having to (potentially) learn to play nice, Deutsche Telekom is already looking ahead to its next big target: Sprint Nextel. According to a Telegraph report, the telecom giant, with an estimated value of $60.45 billion, has called in advisers from Deutsche Bank as it reportedly prepares to submit an offer to the $10.6 billion-valued Now Network within the next three weeks. The assimilation of Sprint and Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile US under the same umbrella could give second-place AT&T a fight with a 78.2 million-strong customer base... but that said, we wouldn't anticipate any quick or smooth merger given the US carriers rely on substantially different bands (CDMA vs. GSM) for service. Hey, there's always WiMAX might come into play. Obviously there's a lot of unanswered questions here, but at this point it's all speculation given no actual offer has been thrown on the table -- and we bet Hesse will have some choice words on the matter. Keep an eye out on this one, things could very quickly get very, very interesting here.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

It's a far cry from the $1.2 billion number that was bandied about at one point, but it looks like Sprint could still be taking a fairly sizable hit over those pesky early termination fees, at least if a proposed class action settlement plays out as it seems likely too. As Sprint itself announced today, the company's reached a $14 million settlement in the case, which will be placed in a common fund to be distributed accordingly to all the parties involved, which is where you come in (assuming you're a current of former Sprint, Nextel, or Sprint Nextel customer, that is). The short of it is that you can either sign on to the class action suit or opt out of it by hitting up the site linked below, and then you'll have to wait for the final approval hearing now scheduled for October 21st, which should actually settle the settlement once and for all. Details on the exact payout amounts to customers are buried in the documents on the settlement website, but it looks like the majority of customers will be receiving between $25 and $90 depending on their contract, plus some free bonus minutes.

Read - Sprint ETF Settlement website
Read - Sprint statement

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Thanks, Brian]

The Pre might have slowed the drain at Sprint but it hasn't managed to turn things around completely -- America's number three carrier posted a second-quarter loss of $384m as it lost another 257,000 subscribers. That just continues Sprint's trend of bleeding customers to the competition, and we doubt this balance sheet will turn around anytime soon -- not only will next quarter reflect the $483m purchase of Virgin Mobile USA, it's pretty clear that Verizon will get the Pre and AT&T will carry another webOS handset, leaving Mr. Hesse and crew without their shiny halo device to lure new subs to the fold. We'll see what Sprint does to turn this all around -- did someone say they need a Hero?

Sprint's fight with iPCS continues to wage on multiple fronts, all of which have been ongoing for eons -- especially the whole iDEN tussle in the wake of Sprint's merger with Nextel. Most recently, that little soap opera had seen an Illinois court rule that Sprint's got to divest some iPCS-controlled iDEN markets to bring it back into contractual compliance and restore Mother Nature's balance, and now Sprint's gotten around to announcing how that process is going to work. In short, it seems like a free-for-all -- the company has apparently put out a few feelers for buyers, but anyone it hasn't contacted is invited to hook up with Citi, who's managing the ordeal on Sprint's behalf. The carrier says that it expects everything to be squared away by January 25 of next year, which is when the court-imposed deadline falls; in the meantime, subscribers, stay cool, because Sprint says that service will continue uninterrupted and expects any transition to be seamless.

Right on cue, Samsung's retooled Instinct (that'd be the Instinct S30, if you had any doubts) has gone on sale at Sprint. You'll also notice that the $129.99 on-contract price we heard about is completely in tact, despite the fact that Best Buy Mobile could be selling this same handset in stores later this week for $80 less. At any rate, those champing at the bit to get one headed their way can now do so after choosing between Cobalt Metal and Touch of Copper hues, and if you're looking to snag one with no strings attached, you'll be paying $449.99 in order to do so.

[Thanks, Mike]

So, what's a flagging cellular operator to do once it has succumbed to the grim realization that no one wants to sign up for your service and you've already collected the dough from selling off nearly all of your towers? Go wholesale, of course! Unbeknownst to most, all of the Kindle downloads on Amazon's white-hot e-reader go through Sprint's network, and given just how successful that little venture has been, the carrier is hoping to expand its revenues from wholesaling bandwidth (which currently sits at just 3 percent of its total) by inking similar deals with connected gadget makers. From internet-connected vehicles to GPS systems to cameras, the options are darn near limitless, and with so much free capacity on Sprint's network, it might as well find companies to use it. 'Course, it's not like Sprint's the only one out there trying to carve these kinds of deals into stone, but it's definitely the one that needs to do it most immediately.

It's not that we didn't appreciate Motorola's rugged i580, but even for a beater phone, it just struck us as atypically drab. At long last, Sprint is looking to remedy that very complaint by pushing the all-weather clamshell out with a shockingly yellow accent. The "highly visible" new hue can handle even the nastiest of environments without cracking, and the Direct Connect support means that you and your pals can chirp away as much as you like. Other features include GPS (TeleNav), Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera and up to 1GB of optional removable memory. Folks sick and tired of breaking their handset (or huge, huge fans of yellow) can snap one up now for $119.99 on a two-year contract.

[Via MobileBurn]

Following its earlier launch on subsidiary Boost, Sprint Nextel proper has now seen fit -- as expected -- to launch the hottest iDEN phone ever created, Motorola's Stature i9. $199.99 on contract after rebate will buy you a 3.1 megapixel cam, GPS, Bluetooth, microSD expansion, and all the iDEN-powered Direct Connect action you can handle; why these guys opted to push this thing down to Boost first is totally unclear to us, but hey, it's available to the traditional Nextel cats now too, so no hard feelings.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Via Unwired View]

Oh, brother. If you're worried that Motorola's already brawny i365 just isn't robust enough to withstand the pressures of your daily life, there's the newfangled i365IS. If you're curious as to what the "IS" means, here goes: "intrinsically safe." Seriously. The handset, which would obviously play well in a recreated episode of Saved By The Bell, is a GPS-enabled push-to-talk device that is "safe to use in hazardous areas that may contain flammable gasses, vapors or dust." Obviously, the mobile will tap into the Nextel Direct Connect network in order to keep up with comrades, and its rugged chassis is certified for "military specification requirements including humidity, blowing rain, dust, shock and vibration." Further specs include a paltry 130 x 130 resolution display, Bluetooth and a talk time of around 300 minutes. There's no mention of a price or release date, but real men can wait, anyway.

[Via Mobiledia]

Verizon may have been bangin' on Sprint's iDEN network, but that's not stopping the yellow-faced carrier from introducing the "first ever" (wait, really?) push-to-talk BlackBerry on those very waves. Sprint is hailing the Curve 8350i as the "most advanced push-to-talk BlackBerry smartphone ever," and given the options in the past, it's hard to disagree. Thankfully, there's also integrated WiFi / GPS as well as support for Group Connect, international direct connect and Talkgroup; you'll also spot a 2-megapixel camera, multimedia player, speakerphone, video recorder, a microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, a stereo headset jack and a removable 1,400mAh battery. It's available now in a rather stocky 4.4- x 2.4- x 0.7-inch frame for as low as $149.99 (after all applicable rebates) on a two-year plan.

Not even a month after Sprint began offering voluntary buyout packages to an unspecified number of employees and just weeks after John Garcia decided it best to extend his Thanksgiving holiday into forever, in flies an analyst report asserting that sweeping layoffs are just around the bend. Pali Research's Walter Piecyk also expects the carrier to reduce prices to pick up lost ground to rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless. A company spokesman proclaimed that "nothing was off of the table" and that "every option" would be scrutinized, but as of now, no decisions have been nailed down around the 2009 budget plan. Better get on that, wouldn't you say?

[Via CellPhonesMarket]

Hang tight to that Samsung SWC-E100 ExpressCard you snatched up as one of the few early adopters in Baltimore -- that thing could one day be a serious relic (or rare eBay find). Just over a year since launching the perplexedly named XOHM WiMAX service, Sprint has decided to rechristen the whole thing Sprint 4G after its workings with Clearwire. Reportedly, the carrier will be offering up dual-mode CDMA / WiMAX modems as early as the end of this year (at least in the Charm City), while similarly equipped handsets won't be too many months behind (just like we'd heard). Kinda hurts to know you can't add a CDMA radio into that WiMAX-only card you already purchased, huh?

[Via phonescoop]