A higher court in Illinois ruled in favor of iPCS in its dispute with Sprint Nextel over competition in certain Midwest territories. The Illinois Appellate Court confirmed an earlier lower court’s ruling that Sprint Nextel must sell its Nextel network in certain iPCS territories in the Midwest. The court’s decision this week reaffirmed an August 2006 ruling in favor of iPCS that called for Sprint to divest its Nextel assets in the disputed markets.
Previous to the 2006 decision, a Cook County Circuit Court ruled that the merger between Sprint and Nextel violated Sprint’s management agreement with iPCS Wireless, a subsidiary of iPCS, which sells Sprint-branded wireless services in areas of Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska. iPCS says its territories cover 7.8 million people and it currently serves 629,900 customers.
The initial rulings were put on hold when Sprint challenged them citing a ruling by a Delaware Chancery Court that allowed Sprint to sell Nextel services in Horizon and Bright service territories in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New York. iPCS also owns the Sprint-branded affiliates Horizon Personal Communications and Bright Personal Services.
iPCS says it is pleased with the court’s ruling, calling it a “significant victory” for the company.
Sprint Nextel said it will consider its legal options.