Tue Aug 09, 2005 11:18 am
Alamosa Holdings today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, AirGate PCS, has filed a complaint against Sprint Corporation, certain of its affiliates and Nextel Communications, Inc. in the Delaware Court of Chancery alleging, among other things, that following the completion of the pending merger between Sprint and Nextel, Sprint will breach the exclusivity covenants contained in the agreements governing its relationship with AirGate and that Nextel unlawfully interfered with AirGate's exclusive rights under such agreements. The complaint seeks, among other things, an order directing Sprint and its affiliates to specifically perform their contractual obligations under their agreements with AirGate, an injunction preventing Sprint and Nextel from taking any action or entering into any agreement that would violate the exclusivity covenants contained in the agreements, a declaratory judgment declaring the rights, remedies and obligations of the parties under the agreements, and damages.
As previously disclosed, since Sprint's public announcement of its intention to merge with Nextel, Alamosa has continually attempted to engage in productive discussions with Sprint in an attempt to resolve the issues raised by its pending merger with Nextel. Alamosa now has come to believe, however, that it is unlikely that the parties will be able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement prior to the closing of the merger.
"Neither Sprint nor Nextel should be allowed to breach previous agreements in pursuit of their goals," stated David E. Sharbutt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alamosa. "Sprint agreed that AirGate and Alamosa would be the exclusive providers of wireless services in their territories and that they would be entitled to specific performance of their agreements with Sprint, and we expect Sprint to fulfill its contractual commitments to AirGate and Alamosa."
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