New York, July 19, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") upgraded several ratings of Sprint Communications, Inc. ("Sprint" or "the company"), including the company's corporate family rating ("CFR") to Ba3 from B1, the company's probability of default rating ("PDR") to Ba3-PD from B1-PD, and Sprint's senior unsecured rating to B1 from B3 following the closing of the merger agreement with SoftBank Corp. ("SoftBank"), and a separate merger agreement with Clearwire Corp. ("Clearwire"). SoftBank, with an issuer rating of Ba1, acquired a 78% stake in Sprint, a transaction valued at $21.6 billion. Moody's believes that the merger with SoftBank will help Sprint to improve its operating performance in the highly competitive US wireless industry due to the infusion of $5.0 billion of new equity capital and SoftBank's track record of operational turnarounds of wireless companies in Japan (increasing market share and expanding margins). The merger with Clearwire, a company with a vast holding of spectrum, addresses Sprint's spectrum needs for at least the next several years. Moody's also affirmed the company's speculative grade liquidity ("SGL") rating of SGL-1, indicating a very good liquidity position. The outlook is stable.

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