Roger Fingas
The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly adding an unusual request for the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint — the spinoff of a new wireless carrier.
The existing carriers are still discussing concessions that could appease the DOJ, Bloomberg sources said. Past reports have indicated Department resistance, given antitrust concerns — there are just four major national carriers in the U.S., a number that could shrink down to three.
It's unknown what a spinoff carrier might look like except that it would run on the Sprint/T-Mobile network, Bloomberg noted.
The companies have already tendered several concessions, such as selling off Sprint's Boost Mobile brand, committing to a three-year 5G expansion, and avoiding price hikes while that network is under construction. The new entity would still control Metro and Virgin Mobile USA however, giving it huge influence over both the postpaid and prepaid markets.
The deal is valued at about $26.5 billion and already has the backing of FCC chairman Ajit Pai. Both the FCC and the DOJ must sign off ahead of Sprint and T-Mobile's self-imposed July 29 deadline.
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32 Comments
I don't see any good for the consumer (American citizen) from this merger!
As long as my $94mo bill doesn’t go up & my service continues to improve I don’t see the problem. Spinoff carrier? Wth are they smoking?
At least they are still talking with the DOJ. So all is not lost, even with this weird 'request.'
While it would be nice to have a 4th national carrier, if the government was truly serious about that, it might want to see if Verizon and AT&T would want to (or maybe be forced to?) contribute to it as well, given that a combined T-Mobile and Sprint would still have fewer subscribers than either of the top two. Handcuffing the 3rd and 4th carrier only prolongs the strength of nos. 1 and 2.