T-Mobile’s Sprint Deal Should Be on Death Watch
A Justice Department ultimatum would defeat the point of the merger, and just might kill it.
RIP, T-Mobile-Sprint?
Photographer: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
T-Mobile US Inc. is in a pickle. Antitrust officials say that if it wants permission to buy Sprint Corp., it needs to help create a new competitor to fill the hole in the market that Sprint would leave behind. But then, what would be the point of their merger?
The U.S. Department of Justice wants the companies “to lay the groundwork for a new wireless carrier,” a full-fledged national operator with its own network that may help keep prices down for customers after T-Mobile and Sprint become one, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. It’s an ultimatum that just might kill the deal. Sprint shares slid for a third day.