VENTURE CAPITAL POST

T-Mobile US Inc rolled out cellular and data plans for business customers, taking aim at a lucrative market segment long dominated by larger rivals AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc.

Google Inc is in talks to buy mobile-payments company Softcard, technology news website TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

French low-cost telecoms operator Iliad SA (ILD.PA) abandoned its attempt to buy T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.N) on Monday because of resistance from majority owner Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), becoming the third bidder to walk away from the carrier in three years.

Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE) sees potential offers which value its T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.N) unit at $35 a share as being substantially too low, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday, countering a report from Bloomberg.

Sprint Corp's shares climbed as much as 15% earlier in trading day today as speculation that it will be merging with rival T-Mobile US Inc rises, said a Bloomberg report.

Sprint chairman and SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son was reportedly meeting senior bank executives in New York. Sources said that banks are readying proposals for financing a bid by Sprint Corp. for T-Mobile US.

Dish Network Corp., which lost out to Japan's SoftBank in its attempt to buy Sprint Corp., is looking to offer a bid to acquire telecoms company T-Mobile US Inc. Sprint last week said that it is considering to bid for T-Mobile.

AT&T will be up against smaller rival T-Mobile should the former decide to offer a bid for Verizon Wireless' spectrum block. Verizon, which bought the asset for USD2.4 billion, is seeking to generate USD2.75 billion from the sale.