American wireless carrier Sprint has signed telecom network vendor financing with Samsung, Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent for $1.8 billion to purchase 2.5 GHz equipment.
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The vendor financing includes a secured facility for up to $800 million from Nokia Networks maturing in June 2021, up to $750 million from Samsung maturing in Dec. 2022 and up to $250 million from Alcatel-Lucent maturing in Dec. 2021.
Sprint, a part of SoftBank of Japan, said it also amended and expanded by $300 million its credit relationship with Export Development Canada (EDC) as well as amended the terms of its existing secured equipment credit facility.
“These deals provide Sprint with greater flexibility and liquidity options as we focus on growing the business and investing in our network,” said Joe Euteneuer, Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer.
In addition, Alcatel-Lucent was instrumental in arranging a $300 million incremental facility from EDC, maturing in Dec. 2019.
Sprint also amended the terms of the secured equipment credit facility that it used to finance $1 billion in purchases of network equipment and related services from Ericsson.
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Sprint’s request to reduce the Letter of Credit (LOC) for 800 MHz incumbent reconfiguration costs by an additional $22.6 million. This lowered the LOC to approximately $434 million and follows the FCC’s approval of a reduction from $850 million to $457 million earlier in 2014.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
