Kansas City, Mo. -- Officials at cable MSOs involved
in the Sprint PCS wireless joint venture said there was little new to say about talks
that, as has been previously reported, might lead to the creation of public stock in the
million-subscriber service.
Sprint Corp., which owns 40 percent of the venture, has
been trying to restructure the venture with partners Tele-Communications Inc. (30
percent), Comcast Corp. (15 percent) and Cox Communications Inc. (15 percent) for months.
Sprint would like to increase its stake in the nationwide venture.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that
Sprint was in talks with its partners to turn Sprint PCS into a publicly traded tracking
stock. But cable officials said that report just reiterated what they have been saying for
a while.
The cable companies would like to cash in at least some of
what they see as accumulated equity in the venture, which has spent some $4 billion to
date. TCI chairman John Malone said in March that the dynamics of the venture changed last
year when Sprint spent more than $500 million on its own for additional wireless spectrum
for the service. The four companies jointly bought the initial spectrum for the service at
auction three years ago.
Also in March, TCI president Leo J. Hindery Jr. said he
thought the restructuring talks would be wrapped up in a month or so. Cox and TCI
officials said last week they didn't believe anything had been resolved since then.
Cox vice president for public affairs David Andersen added
that Cox was "very pleased with the invesment" and "confident in the
management team that is in place. And we're glad that we have been able to attach our
[personal-communications-services license] in Southern California with a venture like this
that will have a national presence."
