A potential hiccup has emerged in the pending Sprint – Clearwire WiMAX transaction. Sprint affiliate iPCS sued Sprint on the grounds that the newly formed WiMAX venture would compete with iPCS and therefore violates non-compete language in their affiliate agreement. Sprint tried to get the lawsuit tossed, but a judge ruled in favor of iPCS. In other words, cha-ching for iPCS. This won’t stop the Clearwire transaction, but it will push Sprint and iPCS in to settlement talks. We’ll hear all kinds of rhetoric from the iPCS side about damage to their core business, etc. That is until there are enough zeros behind the figure they’ll accept to walk away.
