NEW YORK (Reuters) - South Koreas SK Telecom Co Ltd (017670.KS) and Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) are in preliminary talks about collaborating on technology and not discussing a merger, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Their comments came after cable news channel CNBC reported SK was negotiating to buy Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, which has been struggling to stem customer losses.
Sprint shares closed 9.44 percent higher.
"There are no acquisition talks going on right now between SK Telecom and Sprint. Any discussions that are going on are around technology collaboration," said one source, who asked not to be named because the person was not authorized to talk on the subject.
Two people said the technology talks were at an early stage.
Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, also said there were no acquisition talks. Sprint had already rejected a 5 billion investment by SK and a group of private equity firms, according to reports last year.
Both SK and Sprint run wireless networks based on the same CDMA technology, which is widely used in the United States. They have also been looking at the emerging WiMAX technology for next-generation high-speed wireless data.
Sprint has struggled with customer service problems and issues integrating its 2005 Nextel Communications acquisition.
Sprint spokesman James Fisher declined comment and SK representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Sprint shares, which have fallen 30 percent since the end of last year, closed up 78 cents at 9.04 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Additional reporting by Jessica Hall in Philadelphia; Editing by Andre Grenon)
Their comments came after cable news channel CNBC reported SK was negotiating to buy Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, which has been struggling to stem customer losses.
Sprint shares closed 9.44 percent higher.
"There are no acquisition talks going on right now between SK Telecom and Sprint. Any discussions that are going on are around technology collaboration," said one source, who asked not to be named because the person was not authorized to talk on the subject.
Two people said the technology talks were at an early stage.
Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, also said there were no acquisition talks. Sprint had already rejected a 5 billion investment by SK and a group of private equity firms, according to reports last year.
Both SK and Sprint run wireless networks based on the same CDMA technology, which is widely used in the United States. They have also been looking at the emerging WiMAX technology for next-generation high-speed wireless data.
Sprint has struggled with customer service problems and issues integrating its 2005 Nextel Communications acquisition.
Sprint spokesman James Fisher declined comment and SK representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Sprint shares, which have fallen 30 percent since the end of last year, closed up 78 cents at 9.04 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Additional reporting by Jessica Hall in Philadelphia; Editing by Andre Grenon)
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