Another possible barrier to merger operations fell by the wayside as the arbitration panel called up by Nextel Partners in August has, “unanimously denied a request by Nextel Partners to preliminarily enjoin Sprint Nextel’s national rollout of the new Sprint brand.”
According to the Sprint Nextel press release:
“The panel… ruled that Nextel Partners had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its claim that the rollout breached the requirements of Nextel Partners� operating agreements. The arbitration panel rejected claims by Nextel Partners that those agreements required Sprint Nextel either to allow Nextel Partners to use the new Sprint logo or to sell Nextel iDEN products only under the Nextel brand and not under the Sprint brand. Additionally, the panel concluded that the parties’ contracts “do not appear to support” Nextel Partners’ argument and also rejected Nextel Partners’ position that it would be irreparably harmed by the rollout of the new Sprint brand.”
This was to be only a preliminary injunction while a lawsuit runs its course about discriminatory practices by the combined Sprint Nextel against Nextel Partners.
As RCR Wireless News reported:
“Nextel Partners noted that the panel found that Nextel Partners likely would prevail on its claim that the use of the new Sprint-Nextel brand by Nextel’s operating subsidiaries without making the new brand available to Nextel Partners violated the nondiscrimination provision of its affiliate agreement.
“The panel added that Nextel Partners could be reimbursed financially for any loss of value during its “put” process associated with its inability to use the new Sprint-Nextel branding.”
For its part, Sprint Nextel reported it was happy with the results of the arbitration, and announced that it would continue to comply with its agreements with Nextel Partners.
Nextel Partners issued no press release relating to this matter.