Sprint shares plunge after talks with T-Mobile end

Shares of S💟print fell more than 13 percent on Monday after the No. 4 US wireless carrier called off merger talks with T-Mobile US and a wireless partnership with cable company Altice USA failed to appease investors.

“It will not deliver the tens of billions in synergies we had foreseen in a merger 𒈔with T-Mobile,” Chief Financial Officer Tarek Robbiati said of theꦺ Altice agreement on a call with analysts and reporters. “Nonetheless, it does deliver real value for Sprint.”

Sprint’s shares were down 12 percent at $5.84 after earlier🍬 fall﷽ing as much as 13.5 percent.

Altice said it would sell mobile service on Sprint’s network under a new multi-year agreement announced on Sunday, becoming the latest cable company to enter the wireless mark🤪et.

A day earlier, Sprint and T-M🐎obile ended merger talks, raising questions over how Sprint, in the middle of a turnaround plan to cut costs and shore up cash, could increase investment in its network.

The Altice partnership was not contingent on merger talks with T-Mobile failing, R♛obbiati said.

He also sai𒐪d comments by Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son on raising capital expenditure to $5 billion to $6 billion annually, from $3.5 billion to $4 billion, was for the medium term and not for 2017.

Asked how Sprint wou⛎ld pay for the increase in spending𒀰, Robbiati said the company could fund it through cash, debt and borrowing against its spectrum, or wireless airwaves.

Last year, Sprint said i✅t would 🅰raise an initial $3.5 billion by mortgaging about 14 percent of its spectrum.

Jonathan Chaplin, an analyst at New Street Research, said $5 bill꧂ion to $6 billion annually was the minimum level at which Sprint could build a credible network, but the company faced challenges in catching up🦹 with wireless carriers that are moving ahead with developing next generation networks, or 5G.

“Sprint is trying to catch up to a moving target,” he said. “I think the market is going to be r🅷easonably skeptical.”