Japan’s Softbank has confirmed the sale of a two-thirds stake in its recently-acquired rival network eAccess to a consortium comprising several big-name vendors.

Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent and a Nokia Siemens Network subsidiary are among the 11 firms that make up the consortium. Each will hold a 6 percent stake, though financial terms were not disclosed. Softbank will remain the top shareholder.

Softbank only completed its acquisition of eAccess – the firm behind mobile broadband specialist network EMOBILE – on 1 January after announcing the merger between Japan’s third and fourth largest mobile operators last September. It paid more than $2 billion for the business.

In a statement, Softbank said that today’s deal was made “in order for eAccess to maintain a certain degree of independence, which the company believes will facilitate the continued expansion of eAccess’ business.”

Recent reports suggest that the transaction may also be motivated by a need to circumnavigate regulatory caps on how much spectrum a single operator can hold.