T-Mobile and Sprint Merging
On April 29th, T-Mobile and Sprint announced a $26 billion deal to merge their companies together, but this isn’t the first time that they’ve tried to merge. The two companies tried to merge back in 2014 with the idea from Sprint parent SoftBank to deal with T-Mobile. When it was announced the regulators and the White House were keen about it because they wanted to keep four national competitors for wireless service providers. The deal then fell apart when T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom couldn’t agree how much control each side would get when merged.
They then tried again this year when the other carriers were giving freebies like access to Netflix or Hulu, as well as a discount for smartphone users with unlimited data. Also Verizon and AT&T are much larger than the two companies and they need a bigger competitor. The companies then got pressured which drove them together to merge again. They are trying to push this idea to merge because it can create more jobs and that they both are combining the company’s investment in 5G.
With the two companies going into the deal, Telekom will assume control of the two businesses while SoftBank is taking seat on the board for the new company thinking of a name. The deal is expected to close in 2019 with everything situated.
Some of the programs they are trying to accomplish is offering lower prices than Verizon and AT&T. They will also offer a free year of service, free internet providers, and cheaper unlimited data plans. With the deal announced it is not certain it will happen in the future especially who is going to take control of the combined companies.
