DOJ Approves Big Mobile Carriers Merger

T-Mobile and Sprint received the green light to merge into one company from the DOJ. The $26 billion deal will likely be challenged by various state attorneys general, but if it goes through it will result in a company with 80 million U.S. customers. By comparison, both ATT and Verizon have more than 150 million customers. The Justice Department’s approval means federal agencies overseeing the merger have given it their blessing, but on condition that both T-Mobile and Sprint hand over assets including wireless spectrum and subscribers to Dish, a satellite television company that has been tapped to create a mobile network to compete with the merged company. Dish is supposed to become a serious competitor, but critics argue that it will not be powerful enough to count as a fourth major wireless carrier. They highlight studies suggesting the merger will result in higher prices for consumers. “Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim should have blocked this merger,” Gigi Sohn, a former adviser at the FCC, said in a statement. “A new mobile wireless entrant that starts with zero postpaid subscribers and that must rely on its much bigger rival, the new T-Mobile, just to operate is not a competitor, it’s a mobile Frankenstein.”