Comments by MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett, on T-Mobile possibly selling some assets to Dish Network as part of buying Sprint, were incorrectly attributed to New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin (see 1907240062).

Intel holds its Q2 earnings call Thursday, and CEO Bob Swan is sure to face questions about reports Intel is in advanced talks to sell its 5G modems business to Apple. Swan reported on a late-April call that Intel was still deciding what to do with the rest of its 5G modems business (see 1904260005), after announcing earlier it was dropping 5G smartphone modems for lack of profit potential (see 1904170004). Evaluating Intel’s future in 5G modems for PCs and IoT devices, including what to do with the company’s “wonderful” patent portfolio, was a "work in progress," said Swan then. Neither Apple nor Intel commented Tuesday on the reports.

Decision time is near for DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim on T-Mobile/Sprint (see 1907180041), but questions remain, New Street’s Blair Levin said Monday in a report to investors. Since FCC Chairman Ajit Pai endorsed the deal two months ago “the consensus view -- with which we agreed -- was that Delrahim was more likely than not to approve the deal, assuming a deal was struck to create a fourth competitor,” Levin wrote: “The more difficult question was how much pressure he would put on the T-Mobile to strike a deal in which the odds of that fourth competitor providing a sustainable competitive dynamic were significant. To do that, of course, Delrahim had to signal to T-Mobile that he would be willing to block the deal. There were no signs that he had done so until last week. But now he has done so, meaning that despite the companies’ assertions in court, the DOJ effectively joining the states’ effort to block the merger is a material risk.” The most likely outcome is a deal between Dish and T-Mobile/Sprint, Levin said. T-Mobile may want conditions keeping Dish from doing deals with major tech and cable companies, but the court reviewing the state challenge (see 1906210033) may be reluctant, Levin said: “Adding a constraint on DISH's ability to raise capital (and any constraint on a sale is a constraint on raising capital) is a red flag for the court that the deal is structured to create something less than the competitive dynamic Sprint offers.” Investors are asking if cable operators are “behind the black curtain?” Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche said in a note to investors: “And if so, is it all of them or just one?” She expressed skepticism on news DOJ will make a decision this week. Meanwhile, motions continue in the state challenge before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Comcast, Charter and Altice asked for a new, single deadline for motions made under the stipulated interim protective order. They suggested "any such motions should be due three days after the resolution of the non-party motions to amend the protective order.” The rules are “unnecessarily burdensome for non-parties that seek to mitigate the risk to their commercial interests caused by discovery in this action,” the cable groups said (in Pacer): “Defendants have been identifying their designated in-house counsel piecemeal, creating a stream of rolling deadlines.” AT&T asked the court to restrict access to information filed. The court should “follow the usual practice of requiring a particularized need before allowing Defendants’ employees access to competitively sensitive information from their competitors,” the carrier said (in Pacer): “Under this practice, which AT&T and Time Warner lived with in their recent merger litigation, Defendants can show why specific in-house counsel should have limited access to specific non-party confidential information.”

Amazon, AMC Networks, CBS, Comcast, Facebook and Sony potentially have interest in buying Starz, and such a deal with Starz parent Lionsgate is more than possible, FBN Securities analyst Robert Routh wrote investors Friday. He said Starz potentially could go for $6.5 billion. Lionsgate didn't comment. CBS reportedly has talked with Lionsgate about Starz (see here).

A lawyer for T-Mobile/Sprint countered state complaints the companies didn’t provide materials on a settlement with DOJ by June 28 (see 1907160068). The state challenge is before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “July 2, in response to Plaintiffs’ request, Defendants provided additional information and almost 300 pages of supporting materials that disclosed comprehensive details about a potential DOJ settlement,” Cleary Gottlieb’s David Gelfand wrote (in Pacer) to Judge Robert Lehrburger. “It went far beyond what was contemplated. While Plaintiffs are correct that definitive documents were not provided on July 12, this is only because a final settlement agreement with the DOJ has not yet been reached.”

Antitrust authorities cleared the way for networking company Extreme Networks to buy Aerohive Networks. The deal was valued at $272 million. An FTC early termination notice dated Tuesday and released Wednesday ended the transaction’s Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.

Three of the five FCC commissioners agree T-Mobile's buying Sprint is good for competition and the public interest, the would-be buyer said Tuesday as it answered (in Pacer) a state attorneys general complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Sprint also filed that day (in Pacer). “After one of the most exhaustive and thorough premerger investigations in history, the FCC Chairman and two other Commissioners have voiced their support for the merger,” wrote T-Mobile, referring to the agency’s Republicans. “FCC action is expected in the near future,” and the agency “secured legally binding commitments from the parties to accelerate their promised business plan,” including to expand 5G coverage, increase speeds and keep prices low, it said. The carrier contended AGs “reject engineering and physics realities, which show that the combination of Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s complementary spectrum and assets will create a far better network with much greater capacity at lower cost than either could do separately,” and they "ignore major players in the wireless marketplace."

Cisco agreed to buy its supplier Acacia Communications, paying about $2.6 billion cash for the optical interconnect technology maker for service providers, data centers and others using lots of data. Purchase of the fabless semiconductor company is expected to close in the second half of Cisco's fiscal 2020, and needs some regulatory approvals. The buy "suggests that Cisco intends to compete directly with the optical systems leaders Huawei, Ciena and Nokia," Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold wrote investors after Tuesday's announcement.

FCC commissioners haven’t had a chance to vote on an order approving T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint, promised by Chairman Ajit Pai in May (see 1905200051), agency officials said Monday. T-Mobile/Sprint agreed to sell Boost, Sprint’s prepaid business, and to make other concessions to win FCC OK. DOJ hasn’t made a decision but indicated it wants the deal to lead to the emergence of a fourth national wireless provider to replace Sprint. Fourteen state attorneys general sued to block the deal (see 1906210033). Google, meanwhile, denied a report it's working with Dish Network to become the fourth carrier. “These claims are simply false,” a Google spokesperson emailed Monday: “Google is not having any conversations with Dish about creating a wireless network.” The state lawsuit changed “the trajectory of the merger process and, no doubt” increased “the desire of the DOJ to have a credible fourth provider before blessing the deal,” New Street’s Blair Levin told investors Monday: “This coming week should see a similar big development, one way or another, as the framework for that fourth is likely to become public this week, or if it doesn’t, the lack of news will have further consequences down the road.” A DOJ decision appears “very close at hand,” said Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche. “But as we noted last week, we still think there remain outstanding issues (namely the State AG lawsuit and what concessions are being extracted).” Pai said June 6 (see 1906070058) that he would circulate an order on the deal “in the coming weeks.” The FCC didn't comment Monday.

T-Mobile and Sprint executives met with FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson and others from his office on their proposed combination. They discussed issues “including the network improvements and efficiencies achievable through the merger and projected in the Applicants’ network and economic modeling as well as the variety of participants in the wireless market,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-197: “The representatives also discussed the relevant market definition, general framework for the competition analysis, and the FCC’s relevant authority under the Communications Act.”