The FCC has approved the $26.5 billion T-Mobile & Sprint merger
Following the green light given by the Department of Justice, the FCC has officially approved the $26.5 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. The FCC approval was the last major hurdle Spring and T-Mobile needed to clear for the merger to go through, but there’s still a chance that lawsuits from various state attorneys general could still pose a threat to the deal.
While T-Mobile and Sprint have states that the merger is necessary for T-Mobile to deploy its 5G network nationwide, opponents of the deal have been adamant that taking the number of large service providers down from four to three will be detrimental to competition and will ultimately result in higher prices for consumers.
The FCC has tacked on a few requirements to its approval which will require T-Mobile to deliver 5G service to 97 percent of Americans within three years with speeds of at least 100 Mbps to 90 percent of Americans within 6 years. If those milestones are not met, the FCC could fine T-Mobile up to $2 billion.
T-Mobile and Sprint will hopefully soon share new details regarding the merger which will hopefully give us a sense as to what the integration roadmap will look like. So far, T-Mobile’s approach to 5G has been slow and dramatically different than what we’ve seen from At&t and Verizon. That could soon change if the T-Mobile doesn’t run into any more roadblocks with the merger.
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