Telecoms Down As Hopes Of Sprint Merger Fade - Telecoms Roundup

Shares of telecommunications companies declined as hopes of a major merger were dashed. Shares of Sprint tumbled after majority owner SoftBank Group, concerned about giving up its control, reportedly abandoned its efforts to merge the U.S. wireless carrier with T-Mobile US. SoftBank, which controls more than 80% of Sprint, has been in negotiations for months with T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom about combining the third and fourth largest U.S. cellular providers. SoftBank's board ultimately rejected the idea of an all-stock deal that would have given Deutsche Telekom control over the combined company, The Wall Street Journal reported. In contrast, shares of CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications rose after the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of the two telecom-and-Internet service providers.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 30, 2017 16:51 ET (20:51 GMT)