Big & mobile
Business | Sprint and Nextel announce $35 billion merger
by Dan Perkins
Posted 12/25/04, 12:00 am
Just a few years ago, mobile phone users could choose from close to 10 major providers. But with a likely merger between Sprint and Nextel, the wireless industry will have its own version of the "big three."
According to published reports, Kansas City-based Sprint has tentatively agreed to buy Nextel for $35 billion. The merger would create the third-largest wireless provider in the nation with nearly 40 million customers. But The New York Times reports that Verizon Wireless may offer to buy Sprint.