Vonage to settle with Sprint for $80M

There's not a lot of good news in Vonage land these days, so anyone hoping to hear something positive with regards to the ailing VoIP provider will have to settle for this: Vonage has reached a settlement with Sprint-Nextel in the patent infringement suit that just got wrapped up a few weeks ago. As part of the settlement, Vonage will pay Sprint $80 million and in turn, will be granted a license for the technologies in question. "We believe this deal is good news for Vonage, our customers and our shareholders," Vonage General Counsel Sharon O'Leary said in a statement. "It allows us to put this litigation behind us and continue to focus on our core business by removing the uncertainty of legal reviews and long-term court action." Despite the front of optimism, financial analysts weren't quite so upbeat. "To the extent Vonage fails to come to terms with Verizon and Sprint, we can not dismiss the risk that Vonage's liquidity may be at risk," Citi analyst Michael Rollins wrote.

For more on the settlement:
- see this Wall Street Journal article