Sprint Announces Wireless Lifeline Services Partnership with i-wireless
May 02 2016 - 01:00PM
Business Wire
Will combine Assurance Wireless and Access
Wireless, the second- and fifth-largest providers of wireless
Lifeline services, to become a stronger competitor in the
marketplace
Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced it has entered into an agreement
with i-wireless, LLC to strengthen its position as a leader in the
wireless Lifeline services industry. The partnership will merge
Sprint’s Assurance Wireless and i-wireless’ Access Wireless into
one entity. The entity will operate under the name i-wireless and
will be led by i-wireless Founder and CEO Paul McAleese. Sprint
will own 70 percent of the business, with i-wireless owning the
remaining 30 percent.
“Sprint has enjoyed a great relationship with i-wireless for
many years,” said Dow Draper, president of prepaid for
Sprint. “We’re excited to move forward with this strategic
partnership, which will result in efficiencies for both companies,
including financial synergies, such as acquisition costs, device
purchasing scale and working capital flexibility.”
The partnership will leverage the expertise of two industry
leaders, and will combine Sprint’s strong position as a network
provider with i-wireless’ national distribution strength.
i-wireless has a unique competitive advantage in its ability to
accurately and efficiently qualify new customers for Lifeline
services through a relationship with its strategic investor, The
Kroger Co. Kroger is one of the nation’s largest grocery chains.
i-wireless will continue to operate on the Sprint network, which
delivers consistent reliability, capacity and speed that customers
can count on.
“This alliance will create a vibrant competitor ready to embrace
a modernized Lifeline program,” said Paul McAleese,
i-wireless CEO. “As the category transitions to broadband, we’re
enthusiastic about the potential to help customers more fully
participate in today’s digital economy by making access to
employment, education and healthcare services more affordable to
low-income consumers.”
Assurance Wireless and Access Wireless are participants in the
Lifeline Assistance Program supported by the Universal Service Fund
(USF), which is designed to ensure that quality telecommunications
services are available to low-income consumers at affordable rates.
Enrollment in this government benefit program is available to
consumers who meet federal or state-specific eligibility
criteria.
The transaction is subject to review by the Federal
Communications Commission and other regulatory approvals.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company
that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to
the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 58.4
million connections as of December 31, 2015 and is widely
recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative
technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a
national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands
including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless;
instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a
global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow
Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five
years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or
www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
SAFE HARBOR
This release includes “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the securities laws. The words “may,” “could,” “should,”
“estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “believe,” “target,” “plan, “outlook,” “providing
guidance,” and similar expressions are intended to identify
information that is not historical in nature. All statements that
address operating performance, events or developments that we
expect or anticipate will occur in the future — including
statements relating to the transaction with iwireless and
statements expressing general views about future operating results
— are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
estimates and projections reflecting management’s judgment based on
currently available information and involve a number of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With
respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made
assumptions regarding, among other things, financial synergies,
such as efficiencies and cost savings of the transaction with
iwireless; regulatory approval of the transaction; customer and
network usage; connection growth and retention; service, speed,
coverage and quality; availability of devices; the timing of
various events and the economic environment. Sprint believes these
forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based
on current expectations and speak only as of the date when made.
Sprint undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition,
forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from our company's historical experience and our present
expectations or projections. Factors that might cause such
differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in
Sprint Corporation’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2015 and, when filed, its Annual Report on Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. You should
understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such
factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be
a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160502005778/en/
SprintMedia Contact:Dave Tovar,
913-315-1451David.Tovar@sprint.comorInvestor Contact:Jud
Henry, 913-794-7393jud.d.henry@sprint.com
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