Altice USA, Sprint agree to wireless partnership

US cable operator Altice USA will sell mobile service on wireless carrier Sprint Corp’s network under a new multi-year agreement announced on Nov 5, becoming the latest firm to enter the wireless market in a bid to retain customers.  The companies announced the agreement a day after Sprint and T-Mobile US Inc ended merger talks. Under the terms of the agreement, Altice, the fourth-largest U.S. cable operator, will use Sprint’s network to provide voice and data services in the United States. It gave no time line on when it will introduce such services. The deal will allow Sprint to use Altice’s cable infrastructure to transmit cellular data and develop a next-generation network, or 5G. Sprint and T-Mobile on Nov 4 called off merger talks to create a bigger US wireless company to rival market leaders. That has left Sprint, the No. 4 US wireless carrier, to engineer a turnaround on its own.