Wall Street is turning a cold shoulder to today’s official announcement that Japan’s Softbank will acquire nearly 70% of Sprint-Nextel, giving effective control of the company to Japanese business magnet Masayoshi Son.

The $20.1 billion acquisition is the largest-ever foreign buyout by a Japanese company, made possible by the combination of a historically low U.S. dollar against the increasingly strong yen, giving Softbank even more value for money.

But outside of a handful of investment banks that stand to earn $200 million in fees for helping to advice the two companies about the deal, Wall Street is not happy.

“It’s a competitive headache,” said Christopher King, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. The transaction is expected to infuse billions in new capital into perennially third-place Sprint, which is far behind its larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

King and other Wall Street analysts fear a bolstered Sprint will spark new competition into the decreasingly competitive wireless marketplace. Softbank is well known in Japan for cut-throat pricing competition, something that could directly impact Verizon and AT&T’s increasingly expensive pricing for wireless service. Many on Wall Street fear an emboldened Sprint could overtake T-Mobile offering aggressively priced service plans.

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Stifel Nicolaus & Co., analyst Christopher King calls today’s announcement by Softbank and Sprint “a competitive headache” for the wireless industry, which may face more competition and lower prices.  (2 minutes)

Sprint is also expected to put Softbank’s investment to good use — acquiring additional spectrum and quickly upgrading its 4G LTE network, now under construction. The surprise investment could mean a more robust network for Sprint, an important objective for a company criticized for offering less coverage than its larger rivals.

Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein, said Sprint’s aggressive upgrades are bad news because it means the company is going to spend a lot to improve service and presumably cut prices, which will hurt profit margins at Sprint and its competitors who may be forced to lower prices in turn to compete.

Consumers, especially existing Sprint customers, will likely celebrate a stronger Sprint, especially if it triggers a wireless price war.

The investment banks offering advice to both parties have little to complain about either. Citigroup and Raine Group LLC may earn as much as $200 million in direct fees from the deal. Softbank’s own advisers — Deutsche Bank and Mizuho Securities will earn $70-100 million. Sprint’s advisers — Citigroup, UBS, and Rothschild will likely earn an equal amount, according to Bloomberg News.

Investment bankers are hopeful the deal will help trigger another wave of wireless consolidation, which will bolster their fee earnings. In addition to Leap Wireless’ Cricket, there are at least a dozen independent regional carriers including C-Spire and US Cellular now ripe for acquisition by AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, or T-Mobile.

Softbank has been acquiring some of its own competitors back home in Japan, including eAccess, largely to gain additional spectrum to bolster its LTE 4G network build.

For now, the deal announced today does not include beleaguered Clearwire, but most Wall Street investors believe the Sprint-controlled company will eventually also be acquired.

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CNBC talks with Sanford Bernstein’s Craig Moffett, who is not thrilled with a deal that will leave Sprint on a spending spree to upgrade its network and potentially trigger a price war.  (4 minutes)

Seattle residents are on edge thanks to incredibly aggressive Comcast contract workers who refuse to take no for an answer, pounding on doors demanding to be let in, and in some cases making repeated visits, even after police were called.

Valerie Bauman told KING News two men turned up at her apartment Friday flashing cards which they said gave them the right to go where they please.

“They said they were contractors for Comcast and had the authority to be there and showed me this card and I mean, I’ve got a deck of cards, I can pull out the queen but I’m not royalty,” Bauman told the station.

Sam Levine, another Seattle resident said Comcast salespeople pounded on his door demanding to be let in and simply will not take no for an answer.

“It’s not acceptable, it’s not cool, it’s not a way to treat your customers,” Levine said.

Bauman called police because she felt unsafe with the two men, especially after they came back.

“One of them smiled at me and said, ‘Are the police on their way ma’am?’” said Bauman.

Comcast told both customers they were powerless to help because the salesmen were contract workers not directly hired by Comcast and it would be hard to pinpoint who they were.

“You don’t have any right to put somebody in a position where you feel unsafe and threatened in your own home,” said Bauman.

After the media got involved, Steve Kipp, Comcast Washington Region vice president of communications issued this statement:

On behalf of Comcast, I want to offer my apologies to our customers. We are taking these complaints very seriously. As a policy, we do not tolerate overly aggressive, inappropriate behavior from the door to door sales people employed directly by Comcast or by our contractor companies and will take steps to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again. If anyone witnesses unacceptable behavior from any door to door sales person representing Comcast, we encourage you to call 1-800-COMCAST to lodge a complaint.

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KING in Seattle talks with local residents about Comcast’s highly aggressive sales force that pounds on doors and demands entry to sell cable service.  (2 minutes)

Softbank, Japan’s third largest cell phone company, is said to be in advanced talks with both Sprint-Nextel and Clearwire to acquire a $12.8 billion majority ownership interest in both companies, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

Softbank’s primary motivation isn’t a sudden interest in serving American cell phone users. It wants bigger discounts for expensive smartphones and other mobile equipment for its Japanese customers, and volume discount opportunities are wide open if the company can pool Sprint, Clearwire, and Softbank together as a single buyer.

CNBC reports Softbank originally sought a blockbuster deal with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA, Sprint, and Clearwire to form one super-sized carrier, but the German owners of T-Mobile got cold feet and pulled out, fearing the Obama Administration’s antitrust concerns could ultimately torpedo the deal. DT recently proposed an offer for MetroPCS instead, a deal much more likely to pass regulator review.

The deal could provide much-needed financial backing for Sprint, currently embarked on its costly Network Vision plan to upgrade to 4G LTE service. Softbank also sees synergy with Clearwire, because both companies share the same frequencies and TDD LTE network technology, meaning smartphones compatible on one network will work on the other.

Sprint is still said to be considering making a counteroffer for MetroPCS, potentially pulling that company away from T-Mobile, while Leap Wireless’ Cricket also remains a potential takeover target.

Wall Street thinks a foreign player entering the U.S. market will have a much easier time winning regulator approval, because Softbank has no other interests in the U.S. market. The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission both ultimately rejected a previous attempt to merge AT&T and T-Mobile, fearing a larger AT&T would reduce competition and stifle innovation.

Softbank is a disruptive competitor in the Japanese cell phone market. It aggressively competes with KDDI and market leader NTT Docomo. The company is perhaps best known for its oddball, often mystifying marketing which features a talking dog interacting with well-known Hollywood stars, including Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, and Tommy Lee Jones.

Ads feature a typical Japanese family played by atypical actors — a strict father played by a talking dog, a more familiar Japanese mother, a daughter played by a famous Japanese pop star, and her African-American brother. The ads are almost incomprehensible to North American audiences used to a more direct marketing approach. But Japanese audiences love the ads they consider both funny and more importantly, unexpected.

That latter theme is particularly important to Softbank’s image in the Japanese cell phone market. With 98.6% of the country ethnically Japanese, the unexpected family underlines the company’s efforts to shake up conventional cell phone service. Softbank is known for introducing unique plans that target different groups of cell phone users often neglected by larger carriers. First to take a chance with the iPhone to appeal to youth, Softbank also sells plans targeting older users that emphasize unlimited calling to family members.

If Softbank brings this type of marketing to the United States, it could challenge T-Mobile as America’s most disruptive carrier. Just don’t expect a talking dog to close the sale.

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CNBC covers the deal between Sprint, Clearwire, and Softbank that originally also included T-Mobile USA.  (3 minutes)

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Softbank’s legendary ads have been running since June, 2007 and are beyond prolific. More than 150 different ads featuring “the Shirato family” have been produced so far, often with blockbuster Hollywood talent playing along. But most prove baffling to English-speaking audiences, such as this one featuring Tommy Lee Jones as a threatening maid with a uni-brow. (1 minute)

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Quentin Tarantino hams it up in these two impenetrable ads for Softbank. The rough translation from Japanese does not help much. It starts with the older woman asking Otosan (the dog) if he’s going to a town called Tosa. Otosan says yes. Then, the younger woman asks if Tarantino is also going, and he replies: “I am Tara!” (In the longer version, Tarantino does his Samurai impression “Hai-ya! Samurai spirit! Get him with the Samurai sword! Ho-ha!”)  Otosan responds, “I’m determined to go to Tosa!” The older woman tells Tarantino to calm down. When the phone rings, the younger woman says, “It’s the phone,” and the older woman says, “It’s your wife.” Tarantino gasps. The wife asks for Tara. Tarantino responds, “I am Tara!” His wife yells, “Get home right now!” (1 minute)

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Not every ad features the Shirato family. A barely recognizable Brad Pitt helps out while showing off some creative ways to use his built-in cell phone camera. (1 minute)

A veteran Kansas City AT&T employee with more than 40 years of service to the company died Sept. 19 after waiting 15 minutes for his employer to respond to urgent pleas for help and another 30 minutes before the company and emergency responders were finally able to locate him in the suburb of Gladstone.

Questions are being raised about why AT&T waited so long to locate and help Kevin Mashburn, 58, even as an ex-convict sits in a Clay County jail, charged with his murder. AT&T has so far refused to officially answer why dispatchers were not available to receive Mashburn’s frantic pleas for help and why they failed to use built-in GPS tracking equipment installed in company trucks to find Mashburn sooner.

According to official 911 transcripts, an AT&T employee eventually told Gladstone 911 dispatchers she was unable to ping Mashburn’s cellphone to help identify his exact location, telling the dispatcher “we’re not that useful.”

Mashburn was working alone, making overnight repairs to AT&T facilities in the area, when he was attacked by someone with a pry bar. Authorities later charged 35-year old ex-convict Bryan Middlemas with the crime. AT&T offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the case.

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KSHB in Kansas City talked with Mashburn’s surviving son, who expressed concern that a quicker response time could have saved his dad’s life. Independence Power and Light says AT&T’s delayed response would never happen at their company.  (3 minutes)

Mashburn used AT&T’s instant messaging system installed in company trucks to alert his employer that he needed an ambulance after being attacked, but court documents show Mashburn waited 15 minutes for AT&T dispatchers to respond:

Kevin (2:52:24 a.m)  Amanda I NEEDE YOU TO CALL ME AN AMBULANCE

Kevin (2:52:37)  I HAVE BEEN ATTACKED

Kevin (2:52:57) HELP ME PLEASE

Kevin (2:53:32) I am in Gladstone, MO AT THE KENDALLWAOOD APAT. COMPLEX OFF ANTIOCH

Kevin (2:54:01) DOYOU READ ME?

About 15 minutes later an AT&T employee named Amanda responded to Mashburn’s message.

Amanda (3:11:20) I got it.

While he waited for the dispatcher to respond, Mashburn also sent messages to another AT&T employee on duty:

Kevin (2:55:13) GRACIE ARE YOU THERE?

Gracie (3:11:06) I’M HERE NOW

Gracie (3:11:11) I WAS IN A MEETING

Kevin (3:20:10) need police

Gracie (3:20:43) THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED.. AND SO HAS STRICKLEN

Kevin (3:20:47) hurry

Gracie (3:21:14) THEY ARE EN ROUTE

Kevin (3:21:07) ok

Kevin (3:21:14) ok

Gracie (3:21:21) STRICKLEN ALSO EN ROUTE

Kevin (3:21:38) ok

Kevin (3:24:03) was attacked wiyh a flat crowbar

Gracie (3:24:40) we are praying

Gracie (3:25:08) you hurt bad?

Kevin (3:25:12) yes

Kevin (3:25:37) head split open

Gracie (3:26:15) stricklin on line.. can you give us an exact location we have the address

Gracie (3:26:21) he is trying to find you

Gracie (3:26:45 he is trying to find you

Kevin (3:26:45) near crossbox. Beacon and flasher are on

Kevin (3:27:25) I can sound horn

Gracie (3:29:10) yes

Gracie (3:29:10) us are on kendallwood

Kevin (3:30:44) yes

Gracie (3:32:10) are you near a business… can not hear you horn but keep sounding

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KSHB explores how AT&T used (or did not use) the GPS system built-into Mashburn’s company vehicle to help locate him. (3 minutes)

Kansas City Police contacted Gladstone dispatchers regarding the assault on Sept. 19 at 3:12 a.m. Mashburn was not located until 3:42 a.m. Despite the fact AT&T trucks have built-in GPS tracking to monitor employees, the company has not publicly explained why it apparently went unused during the 30 minute search to find Mashburn. The frustration by all concerned was readily apparent in this portion of the official 911 transcript:

3:30:18 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: Our officers are still looking. They haven’t found anything yet.

3:30:20 a.m. Radio 258: I’m pulling out my map for the rental properties.

3:30:21 a.m. AT&T Supervisor (to dispatcher): Oh you’re kidding?

3:30:22 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: No.

At 3:32 a.m., AT&T Amanda said she called both Mashburn’s work and personal cellphones, but got no answer. By this point, four Gladstone Police officers were searching for Mashburn across the apartment complex.

3:32:50 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: Are you guys possible to ping his cellphone?

3:32:54 a.m. AT&T Amanda: I don’t have a way to.

3:32:56 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: You don’t have a way to do that?

3:32:59 a.m. AT&T Amanda: We’re not that useful.

3:33:33 a.m. AT&T Supervisor: It’s amazing you can’t find this guy.

Although medical teams eventually reached Mashburn, he did not survive the ordeal and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Mashburn’s son says he has been asked why his father sent messages to company dispatchers instead of calling authorities directly. William Mashburn told the local Fox affiliate that he was not surprised his father used the mobile data terminal to seek help, because that was one of his primary tools on the job.

“If you could try to keep in mind it was a pretty severe head injury,” William Mashburn told the Fox affiliate. “Maybe the ability to speak wasn’t there. Maybe the phone was dislodged during any confrontation or something so, there’s a lot of questions we don’t have answers to, if people could be a little sensitive to that, we’d appreciate it.”

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KSHB chronicles almost an hour of confusion and frustration trying to reach the injured AT&T worker, who was pronounced dead when he finally reached the hospital nearly an hour after the attack. (3 minutes)

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WSYR in Syracuse and WCPO in Cincinnati report Time Warner Cable and former Insight Cable customers are upset the cable company is introducing new modem rental charges on Nov. 1 in both areas, but the company has yet to directly notify customers the new fees are coming. WSYR covers the concerns of customers in central New York. (1 minute)