iPCS Affiliates File Suit against Sprint Nextel

iPCS announced that on September 10, a complaint was filed against Sprint Nextel by three of its subsidiaries - iPCS Wireless, Horizon Personal Communications, and Bright Personal Communications Services (collectively, "the iPCS Affiliates").

In a release dated September 14, the company stated:

The Complaint was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. The iPCS Affiliates assert among other things, that:

- Sprint Nextel's consummation of the recently announced transaction with Virgin Mobile USA and its plan to compete against the iPCS Affiliates in their exclusive territories, will breach the iPCS Affiliates' Management Agreements with Sprint ("Agreements"), under which Sprint or its Related Parties cannot compete against iPCS Affiliates in their exclusive service areas.

- Currently, Virgin Mobile operates as a "reseller," offering wireless products and services that use the nationwide Sprint network, including the iPCS Affiliates' portions of that network in the iPCS Affiliates' exclusive territories, in accordance with the Agreements. However, upon completion of Sprint's acquisition of Virgin Mobile, Sprint will be selling its own services to the public directly in competition with the iPCS Affiliates, thus violating those very same Agreements.

- This is the third time in four years that Sprint has chosen to compete against the iPCS Affiliates in violation of Sprint's obligations under the Agreements. The iPCS Affiliates have previously obtained judgments against Sprint in connection with Sprint's acquisition of Nextel and are currently in litigation with Sprint over its Clearwire transaction.

The iPCS Affiliates are seeking to enforce the terms of the iPCS Affiliates' Agreements with Sprint and are asking the Court for an injunction to enjoin the closing of the Virgin Mobile transaction until such transaction complies with the terms of the Agreements.

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Related terms: acquisition, illinois, products, wireless