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The United States Justice Department is "leaning against" approving the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, reports Bloomberg.

The merger might not be approved because the two companies "don't go far enough" to resolve antitrust concerns raised by the U.S. government.

sprinttmobile.jpg

Bloomberg's report comes shortly after United States Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai said that he would recommend approval of the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and Sprint have implemented changes to their merger to allay concerns, including the sale of Boost Mobile, a three-year buildout of a 5G network, and a pledge not to raise prices while the network is being built, but these steps may not be enough to earn approval.

Back in April, there were reports suggesting the DoJ had told Sprint and T-Mobile that the merger would not be approved as it was originally structured, which prompted the plans to sell Boost Mobile.

Sprint and T-Mobile first announced a merger agreement in April 2018, but the completion of the merger requires the government to approve the deal. A merger between Sprint and T-Mobile would combine two of the four major carriers in the U.S., and it would use the T-Mobile name.

The two companies would have close to 100 million customers, putting it second only to Verizon. The U.S. DoJ is concerned the deal would be a major threat to competition.

Sprint and T-Mobile planned to have the merger completed no later than the first half of 2019, but that date was pushed back to late July earlier this year.

Article Link: U.S. Justice Department 'Leaning Against' Approving T-Mobile/Sprint Merger
 

myapple2019

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May 10, 2019
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The United States Justice Department is "leaning against" approving the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, reports Bloomberg.

The merger might not be approved because the two companies "don't go far enough" to resolve antitrust concerns raised by the U.S. government.

sprinttmobile.jpg

Bloomberg's report comes shortly after United States Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai said that he would recommend approval of the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and Sprint have implemented changes to their merger to allay concerns, including the sale of Boost Mobile, a three-year buildout of a 5G network, and a pledge not to raise prices while the network is being built, but these steps may not be enough to earn approval.

Back in April, there were reports suggesting the DoJ had told Sprint and T-Mobile that the merger would not be approved as it was originally structured, which prompted the plans to sell Boost Mobile.

Sprint and T-Mobile first announced a merger agreement in April 2018, but the completion of the merger requires the government to approve the deal. A merger between Sprint and T-Mobile would combine two of the four major carriers in the U.S., and it would use the T-Mobile name.

The two companies would have close to 100 million customers, putting it second only to Verizon. The U.S. DoJ is concerned the deal would be a major threat to competition.

Sprint and T-Mobile planned to have the merger completed no later than the first half of 2019, but that date was pushed back to late July earlier this year.

Article Link: U.S. Justice Department 'Leaning Against' Approving T-Mobile/Sprint Merger
The merger will hurt their customers with potential price increase and employees with lay off due to eliminating duplications including stores, departments, etc. After all, t-mobile is not a non profit organization. As a profit based organization, maximizing profit is t-mobile ultimate goal, like other profit based organizations.
 
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JetTester

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2014
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Consolidating to 3 major players puts too much power in the hands of a few. I prefer to have many choices, resulting in lower prices. We just switched our phones from Verizon to Consumer Cellular, and the cost for exactly the same service is only 1/3 of what we used to pay.
 

Baymowe335

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Oct 6, 2017
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After the Disney/Fox and TWC/Charter mergers I didn't think the DOJ still had a pulse. This is good news if true.
This is definitely different than the Disney/Fox one. These cell providers are essentially commodities. We need more competition there. Disney has tons of competition and you don't really have to use any Disney service like you do wireless, internet, etc.
 

rk-apple

macrumors member
May 4, 2015
57
193
I normally don’t like big mergers. But this one I am for. I think AT&T and Verizon are not focused enough on the consumer. T-Mobile gets it. My family of four saves easily $60 per month with T-mobile over AT&T. And much better customer service. The merger should help T-Mobile compete.

And, T-mobile’s 5G service runs very much differently than that of AT&T or Verizon. That is good competition, and the merger should strengthen T-Mobile’s ability to compete in the 5G future.
 

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
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FCC won’t provide any more spectrum for Cellular companies to grow. So they are left with buying up or merging with other companies in order to meet demand. At the same time, the DOJ, FCC, and sometimes the Whitehouse tries to block mergers/sales.

WTF is cellular companies to do then???
 
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alexandr

macrumors 603
Nov 11, 2005
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I think the worry is a merger would cause them to act more like ATT and VZ.

well that's an entirely differing concern, isn't it? i trust they wouldn't go that route. honestly they are powerful enough without sprint to show signs of such intentions, aren't they?
 
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