UPDATE, 12/17/2012, 11 a.m. EST: Sprint Nextel announced Monday that its bid to acquire Clearwire Corporation has been unanimously approved by the Clearwire board and a special committee of the board established to vet the offer. Commitments have also been received from Clearwire shareholders Comcast Corporation, Intel Corporation, and Bright House Networks. Softbank, which is in the process of buying a 70 percent stake in Sprint, has also given its blessing, according to Sprint. The offer of $2.97 per share—up from the $2.60-per-share price previously reported—values the deal at $2.2 billion. Attorneys working on the deal from King & Spalding, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Morrison & Foerster have also been added to the fifth, sixth, and ninth paragraphs below.

The wireless industry is poised for a competitive shakeup following a pair of significant developments this week, one involving a Federal Communications Commission decision that allows Dish Network to convert broadband spectrum now used for satellite telephone transmissions to more consumer-friendly cellphone service, and the other related to third-ranked wireless provider Sprint Nextel’s $2.1 billion bid to acquire the chunk of Clearwire Corporation it doesn’t already own.

In making the play for total control of Clearwire—disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings Wednesday—Overland Park, Kansas–based Sprint is making quick use of a cash infusion from Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank, which agreed to buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint for $20.1 billion in October.

If a special committee of Clearwire’s board of directors approves the Sprint bid—and if Softbank and regulators bless it as well—a process that began four years ago when Sprint first took a stake in Bellevue, Washington–based 4G wireless network operator will come to a close. Sprint became Clearwire’s majority owner two months ago with a $100 million investment that increased its stake in the company from 48.15 percent to 50.8 percent. (That stake was previously held by Clearwire founder Craig McCaw’s Eagle River Holdings.)

The New York Times notes that the deal will help Sprint build out its LTE wireless network in the United States and maintain its market position ahead of competitor T-Mobile, which in October announced plans to merge with MetroPCS. Verizon and AT&T continue to be the market’s dominant players.

Both Clearwire and Sprint have employed the same outside counsel throughout their dealings with one another since Sprint’s original 2008 investment. On the Sprint side, Atlanta-based King & Spalding partner and M&A cohead Michael Egan, whose name appears in SEC filings made by the company, has led the company’s legal team along with Sprint general counsel Charles Wunsch. King & Spalding corporate partner Adam Freiman and employee benefits partner Kenneth Raskin, both in New York, also advised Sprint on the deal, the firm confirmed Monday.