LONDON/NEW YORK/BOSTON ¨C Wall Street is betting Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. will soon revive talks on a blockbuster merger, but a recent surge in demand for wireless assets has Sprint exploring other ways to unleash value.
Sprint¡¯s parent SoftBank Group Corp. believes the company¡¯s vast trove of wireless spectrum, which can be used for faster 5G services, has been undervalued, a view bolstered by AT&T Inc.¡¯s lofty $1.6 billion purchase of Straight Path Communications Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
Executives have been bandying about ways to better reflect the value of Sprint¡¯s airwave licenses, even entertaining the notion of spinning off some spectrum into a separate, publicly traded company, the people said. A deal with T-Mobile or another party would have to properly compensate Sprint for its airwaves, they said.
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