Sprint affiliate battles Clearwire JV

A Delaware court has ruled that Sprint can go ahead with a lawsuit to determine whether its joint venture with Clearwire and its plans to create a national mobile WiMAX network will violate its exclusivity deal with affiliate iPCS. The court removed two iPCS subsidiaries from the suit--Horizon PCS and Bright PCS--saying that it has no jurisdiction over the Ohio-based companies.

iPCS filed a lawsuit in Illinois to stop the deal and Sprint filed its own lawsuit against iPCS in Delaware. iPCS contends that Sprint's plan would violate its contract because Sprint would end up competing with iPCS.

This isn't the first lawsuit between the two firms. In 2006, an Illinois circuit judge ruled that Sprint Nextel's operation of the former Nextel network in affiliates iPCS' region violated the non-compete clause iPCS has with Sprint.

For more:
- see this  AP report

Related article:
iPCS sues Sprint Nextel over Clearwire deal
iPCS wins legal battle with Sprint