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"US operator Sprint has become the subject of\u00A0acquisition\u00A0rumours, after it was revealed that Japanese carrier Softbank is in talks with the company to acquire it for more than\u00A01 trillion yen ($12.8 billion).\r\n\r\nAccording to Japanese broadcaster NHK, Softbank has engaged in talks with Sprint to purchase two-thirds of the US carrier, little more than a week after\u00A0Japan's third largest operator\u00A0agreed a deal to buy smaller rival\u00A0eAccess\u00A0in a deal worth $1.84 billion.\r\n\r\nSoftbank has actively been looking to increase its bandwidth and\u00A0boost its LTE service domestically, buying eAccess to overtake second-placed KDDI on customer numbers.\r\n\r\nIn the US, Softbank's acquisition of Sprint would better equip it to compete with its bigger rivals in AT&amp;amp;amp;T and Verizon, while solidifying its market position in the wake of the\u00A0T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS $1.5 billion merger.\r\n\r\nNHK believes the Sprint deal will also lower Softbank's purchasing costs of smartphones and other mobile devices.\r\n\r\nUPDATE: All Things D reports that Sprint Nextel confirms that it is in negotiations regarding a\u00A0\u201Csubstantial investment by SoftBank.&amp;quot; It confirmed that the deal may result in an\u00A0acquisition: &amp;quot;Although there can be no assurances that these discussions will result in any transaction or on what terms any transaction may occur, such a transaction could involve a change of control of Sprint... Sprint does not intend to comment further unless and until an agreement is reached.\u201D\r\n\r\nImage Credit: Scott Olson/Getty"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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