Sprint Completes Clearwire AcquisitionSprint Completes Clearwire Acquisition

Sprint Nextel Corp. has finally completed the acquisition of 4G partner Clearwire Corp., a process it first launched in December 2012.

Clearwire shareholders agreed Monday to accept Sprint's bid to buy the nearly 50 percent of Clearwire shares it doesn't already own. With the completion of the transaction, Clearwire will no longer be listed for trading on NASDAQ and expects no further trading after the close of business Tuesday. (See Sprint/Clearwire Merger Could Close July 9.)

Sprint beat off a rival bid from Dish Networks LLC to take complete ownership of the operator, which has been its on-and-off-again WiMax partner since 2007. (See Dish Cedes to Sprint's Clearwire Bid.)

Now Clearwire will use its 2.6GHz spectrum to bolster Sprint's effort to build out LTE. Sprint has already been asking some device partners for LTE support at that frequency in forthcoming handsets.

Next up for Sprint is the expected completion of its merger deal with Japan's SoftBank. That deal got its final approvals from the U.S. government on July 5. (See FCC Approves SoftBank/Sprint, Sprint/Clearwire.) — Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile