SoftBank eyes T-Mobile US if deal with Sprint Nextel collapses

SoftBank Corp is in talks to buy T-Mobile US Inc from Deutsche Telekom AG, as Japan's third-largest mobile phone company looks for alternatives if its proposed plan of buying a majority stake in Sprint Nextel Corp collapses, Reuters yesterday reported, citing three sources familiar with the situation.

SoftBank, which was last year in talks with Deutsche Telekom for  a deal for T-Mobile USA, has recently intensified talks after Dish Network Corp tabled a $25.5 billion counterbid for Sprint, the report said.

In October 2012, SoftBank, Japan's fastest growing mobile carrier, offered to buy a controlling 70-per cent stake in Sprint, the third-largest wireless carrier in the US, for $20.1 billion. (See: Japan's Softbank to buy 70-per cent stake in Sprint Nextel for $20.1 bn)

A completed deal would be the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company after Japan Tobacco Inc's 2007 purchase of UK's Gallaher Group for about $19 billion.

German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom holds a  74 per cent of T-Mobile US, which has a market value of about $15 billion.

In late 2011, AT&T Inc had to abandon plans of  buying T-Mobile USA for $39 billion after regulators opposed the deal.

The multi-billion merger that would have combined the second and fourth-largest mobile phone carriers in the US ran aground after US regulators, lawmakers and rivals opposed the proposed transaction saying it would kill competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.

Last October, T-Mobile USA  acquired MetroPCS Communications to create T-Mobile US, and under the deal, Deutsche Telekom cannot sell its stake for a certain period of time.