Roger Fingas
Sprint and its controlling investor — Japan's SoftBank — are reportedly in "preliminary conversations" about a merger with T-Mobile U.S., a move that could narrow carrier choices for Apple's U.S. iPhone buyers.
Executives with Sprint and SoftBank have been in informal talks with T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom, according to anonymous Bloomberg sources. SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son and Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges have meanwhile told investors they're open to the merger idea.
Financial firms are already competing to participate if and when a deal is agreed on, the sources added.
Sprint previously expressed interest in buying T-Mobile back in 2014, but that deal ultimately fell apart because of expected regulatory obstacles. The Federal Communications Commission then barred telecom mergers over over a year while it conducted a $19.8 billion wireless spectrum auction — that period ended on April 27.
Rumors of a possible merger arose in February this year, given a corporate-friendly Republican government and SoftBank's apparent willingness to surrender control of Sprint — something that might further appease regulators and the nationalist-leaning Trump administration. SoftBank's Son has been publicly praised by President Trump for bringing jobs to the U.S.
A merger is expected instead of an acquisition for the simple reason that since 2014, T-Mobile's market valuation has surged to $55 billion, actually $23 billion more than Sprint's. At the same time, both companies are still in the shadow of the two leading U.S. carriers, AT&T and Verizon.
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew O'Hara
Sponsored Content
Charles Martin
35 Comments
That would suck. T-Mobile has been the best thing to happen in the mobile industry since the original iPhone came out. They have single-handedly driven pricing out of the stratosphere with their aggressive plans. I used to pay $360 with a pittance allowance of data for my family of 4. It's down to $160 now with a large amount of data that rolls over.
What really sucks is that the people who could prevent such a merger couldn't care less about the American consumer. We are lower than used toilet paper on their scale of concern. There is absolutely nothing that can stop this.
Let it happen. T-mo has been bleeding money for years in their attempts to attract new customers. Legere has done a fairly decent job getting attention for the company, but I think they'll die anyway unless they merge.