Sorry Traders, T-Mobile’s Sprint Deal Is Anybody’s Guess
The pressure is on as the wireless carrier enters the final stages of a long fight for the merger with Sprint.
Defending their union again.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergIt’s almost Valentine’s Day, so naturally, top of mind for me are the star-crossed lovers of the U.S. wireless industry. With romance in the air, it’s only appropriate that T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. will appear side by side on Wednesday morning to defend their union to a panel of lawmakers questioning its effects. Depending on the mood in the room, the hearing may raise the specter of government forces standing in the way of this merger, just as they have in the past.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure are back on Capitol Hill to testify before the House subcommittee on communications and technology about the pending merger of the nation’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers.1 The gregarious and straight-talking Legere smoothly handled a mild Senate grilling last June, but much has changed since then, not least that Democrats took control of the House in the latest midterm elections. On Tuesday, nine Democratic senators — including 2020 presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar and others considering running — called for the deal to be stopped on the grounds that it will hurt consumers.