Sprint sweetens bid for Clearwire to $2.2 billion

Sprint Nextel Corp raised its offer for Clearwire Corp by 7 cents per share to buy the rest of the wireless service provider for $2.2 billion.

Sprint, already the majority owner, will pay $2.97 per share for just under half of Clearwire.

Sprint, whose previous offer price was criticized by some minority shareholders as too low, said the raised offer had the unanimous approval of Clearwire directors.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney Joyce)