US Justice Department likely to block Sprint & T-Mobile merger

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
Only hours after FCC chairman Ajit Pai expressed his support for Sprint and T-Mobile's proposed merger, the U.S. Justice Department was reported to be against the deal over antitrust concerns.

T-Mobile


The carriers have not worked hard enough to dispel Justice Department fears, a Bloomberg source said on Monday. Any merger must still clear the rest of the FCC and the DOJ's antitrust division.

Sprint and T-Mobile first agreed to a $26.5 billion merger in April 2018, looking to challenge the two biggest U.S. carriers, AT&T and Verizon. Some people immediately raised flags about the deal, noting that it would reduce national telecoms competition and potentially lead to higher data costs.

To appease groups like the FCC, Sprint and T-Mobile have already put forward several concessions. These include selling off Sprint's Boost Mobile brand, committing to a three-year 5G expansion and avoiding price hikes while that network is under construction.

The combined company would still control Metro and Virgin Mobile, however, and leave Americans with just three national postpaid carriers -- potentially fewer in regions where coverage is weak.

Under the Trump administration the Justice Department has fought other megamergers, most notably AT&T and Time Warner. An appeals court has so far upheld that deal, valued at $85.4 billion.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    horvatichorvatic Posts: 144member
    Adjit is a piece of crap. He has investments in the carriers so of course he wants it to happen. He wants to make money off of it too. Hopefully the DOJ does block it.
    lordjohnwhorfinchasmjshelkkestralspice-boyStrangeDaysleftoverbacon
  • Reply 2 of 22
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Glad to see SOMEONE is trying to protect consumer interests, craPai sure as hell isn't.
    lordjohnwhorfinchasmspice-boy
  • Reply 3 of 22
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,829member
    Don't blame judge for handing over ruling. Mr. Ajit Pai is recommending merger based on two companies committing number of things. Both companies want to merge and agreed to 3 years no price hike and accelerate 5G including rural area. Problem is going forward in few years trio can raise prices and consumers will possibly suffer.
  • Reply 4 of 22
    lordjohnwhorfinlordjohnwhorfin Posts: 791member
    I love T-Mo and have had nothing but horrible experiences with Sprint. Hope the merger doesn't go through. And John, see what that money pissed away at Trump hotel bought you? a big nothing, you numb nut.
    chasm
  • Reply 5 of 22
    spleenmasterspleenmaster Posts: 3member
    What people aren’t seeing is that Sprint is on its last leg. If the merger doesn’t go through, we’re more likely looking at 2 and a half national carriers instead of 3. Sprint will die wheezing without this T-Mo bailout/buyout. You want to talk less competition and higher prices? T-Mo is the only carrier keeping that thought alive. SoftBank sure won’t for much longer.
    lordjohnwhorfinwallymlongpath
  • Reply 6 of 22
    lordjohnwhorfinlordjohnwhorfin Posts: 791member
    Good, let them die and auction off the spectrum they free up. From clinging on IDEN and utterly failing to leverage the Nextel merger, to once again clinging onto obsolete standards with that crappy CDMA, they have amply demonstrated their inability to compete. They should die.
    kestral
  • Reply 7 of 22
    chasmchasm Posts: 2,780member
    Of course bought-and-paid-for carrier sycophant Ajit Pai thinks its a great idea. Thankfully the DOJ operates with some small (and shrinking) level of independence these days ...
    kestrallordjohnwhorfinStrangeDays
  • Reply 8 of 22
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Monopolies form BECAUSE of government protections and market interference. When markets are working, monopolies don’t form. This merger should go through.
    longpath
  • Reply 9 of 22
    LordeHawkLordeHawk Posts: 168member
    If Sprint or T-mobile cannot cannot afford a full 5G rollout in their contract markets, then a merger would make sense.  Otherwise the national 5G rollout will take longer and be limited to 2 carriers, neither of which benefit consumers.

    I don’t see any other benefits...
    longpath
  • Reply 10 of 22
    wallymwallym Posts: 29member
    spleenmaster said:
    What people aren’t seeing is that Sprint is on its last leg. If the merger doesn’t go through, we’re more likely looking at 2 and a half national carriers instead of 3. Sprint will die wheezing without this T-Mo bailout/buyout. You want to talk less competition and higher prices? T-Mo is the only carrier keeping that thought alive. SoftBank sure won’t for much longer.
    As a sprint customer, I fear that sprint won’t survive long term without this purchase.  The quality of their network has improved, but I just don’t see them surviving longterm.  The cost of setting up a nationwide 5g network has to be in the billions.  You have to upgrade existing cell sites, and add many new cell sites.  As the frequency increases, the distance a signal travels decreases given a constant power output.  Physics means 5g’s higher frequencies will require more cell sites for constant coverage.  More cell sites means more money, money that I question if sprint can afford.  Between T-Mobile and SoftBank, sprint needs a bailout of some kind.  They have a lot of debt coming due, including almost $10b in 2023.  I hope that they could go it alone, I just don’t see it from the outside.
    longpath
  • Reply 11 of 22
    spleenmasterspleenmaster Posts: 3member
    lordjohnwhorfin said:
    Good, let them die and auction off the spectrum they free up. From clinging on IDEN and utterly failing to leverage the Nextel merger, to once again clinging onto obsolete standards with that crappy CDMA, they have amply demonstrated their inability to compete. They should die.
    Sure, and I’d prefer to see T-Mo get that spectrum instead of giving AT&T or Verizon more power to eliminate a competitor and raise prices again.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,748member
    I love T-Mo and have had nothing but horrible experiences with Sprint. Hope the merger doesn't go through. And John, see what that money pissed away at Trump hotel bought you? a big nothing, you numb nut.
    What people aren’t seeing is that Sprint is on its last leg. If the merger doesn’t go through, we’re more likely looking at 2 and a half national carriers instead of 3. Sprint will die wheezing without this T-Mo bailout/buyout. You want to talk less competition and higher prices? T-Mo is the only carrier keeping that thought alive. SoftBank sure won’t for much longer.
    Good, let them die and auction off the spectrum they free up. From clinging on IDEN and utterly failing to leverage the Nextel merger, to once again clinging onto obsolete standards with that crappy CDMA, they have amply demonstrated their inability to compete. They should die.
    If Spring goes belly up, then what is more likely to happen is that AT&T and Verizon will get at least some, likely most of Sprint's spectrum. further making the market a duopoly. I'm a happy T-Mobile customer, too, and from what I've read, this merger is necessary to keep them viable. 
    longpath
  • Reply 13 of 22
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,748member
    Sort of, but with the mobile market, you have too huge players that have the ability to outbid t-mobile and sprint whenever bandwidth becomes available, so in this case, the market is solidifying their position as a duopoly.
  • Reply 14 of 22
    GG1GG1 Posts: 483member
    spleenmaster said:
    lordjohnwhorfin said:
    Good, let them die and auction off the spectrum they free up. From clinging on IDEN and utterly failing to leverage the Nextel merger, to once again clinging onto obsolete standards with that crappy CDMA, they have amply demonstrated their inability to compete. They should die.
    Sure, and I’d prefer to see T-Mo get that spectrum instead of giving AT&T or Verizon more power to eliminate a competitor and raise prices again.
    The only benefit I see from the merger is that T-Mobile either has acquired or will acquire lower frequency spectrum from Sprint (700 or 600 MHz, not sure which). It's doubtful Sprint did anything with it, but this spectrum will help with coverage issues on 4G and future 5G.
  • Reply 15 of 22
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    MplsP said:
    I love T-Mo and have had nothing but horrible experiences with Sprint. Hope the merger doesn't go through. And John, see what that money pissed away at Trump hotel bought you? a big nothing, you numb nut.
    What people aren’t seeing is that Sprint is on its last leg. If the merger doesn’t go through, we’re more likely looking at 2 and a half national carriers instead of 3. Sprint will die wheezing without this T-Mo bailout/buyout. You want to talk less competition and higher prices? T-Mo is the only carrier keeping that thought alive. SoftBank sure won’t for much longer.
    Good, let them die and auction off the spectrum they free up. From clinging on IDEN and utterly failing to leverage the Nextel merger, to once again clinging onto obsolete standards with that crappy CDMA, they have amply demonstrated their inability to compete. They should die.
    If Spring goes belly up, then what is more likely to happen is that AT&T and Verizon will get at least some, likely most of Sprint's spectrum. further making the market a duopoly. I'm a happy T-Mobile customer, too, and from what I've read, this merger is necessary to keep them viable. 
    If Sprint goes belly up, Verizon and T-mobile would benefit the most.  They’re in the best financial situation to capitalize...

    Through its acquisition of DirecTV, and more recently its blockbuster buy of Time Warner Inc. for $85 billion last year, AT&T amassed a debt load as high as $180 billion.Feb 13, 2019
    longpath
  • Reply 16 of 22
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,386member
    DAalseth said:
    Glad to see SOMEONE is trying to protect consumer interests, craPai sure as hell isn't.
    I am puzzled. What consumer interest is served by blocking this merger?
    longpathSpamSandwich
  • Reply 17 of 22
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,386member
    So far, there is nothing getting reported in the mainstream media that corroborates Bloomberg (the source quoted in this article), the same news outfit went on about how there was a Chinese bug in Apple’s hardware despite all evidence to the contrary, but still hasn’t retracted that story. 

    I’ll wait for the real news. 
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 18 of 22
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    wallym said:
    spleenmaster said:
    What people aren’t seeing is that Sprint is on its last leg. If the merger doesn’t go through, we’re more likely looking at 2 and a half national carriers instead of 3. Sprint will die wheezing without this T-Mo bailout/buyout. You want to talk less competition and higher prices? T-Mo is the only carrier keeping that thought alive. SoftBank sure won’t for much longer.
    As a sprint customer, I fear that sprint won’t survive long term without this purchase.  The quality of their network has improved, but I just don’t see them surviving longterm.  The cost of setting up a nationwide 5g network has to be in the billions.  You have to upgrade existing cell sites, and add many new cell sites.  As the frequency increases, the distance a signal travels decreases given a constant power output.  Physics means 5g’s higher frequencies will require more cell sites for constant coverage.  More cell sites means more money, money that I question if sprint can afford.  Between T-Mobile and SoftBank, sprint needs a bailout of some kind.  They have a lot of debt coming due, including almost $10b in 2023.  I hope that they could go it alone, I just don’t see it from the outside.
    Die Sprint DIE!!!

    Sprint isn’t cheaper than T-mobile.  The only thing Sprint is good at is attracting suckers...

    The reason the quality of the network has improved, is because they already started merging operations (network) with T-mobile (it was part of the press release when the merger was announced).

    Unfortunately, T-mobiles quality has regressed since the merger.  Hopefully that’s temporary, but it has been noticeable.  It hasn’t been enough to get me to switch to Verizon... but some days I consider it.

    T-mobile has no B.S billing that’s a major draw...

    I’d like T-mobile to continue to improving their network (without Sprint).  If it takes a year or two longer to role out 5G... no big deal.  I worry about T-mobile with Sprints debt, that would be a bigger setback.
    lordjohnwhorfin
  • Reply 19 of 22
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    SpamSandwich said:
    Monopolies form BECAUSE of government protections and market interference. When markets are working, monopolies don’t form. This merger should go through.
    So complete wrong, upside down, reading using a mirror, please please please do some research into this, look at history books and don't get your information from online sources. I've said this before this website would not exist if it was not for Government intervention with Microsoft / Explorer and it's monopoly of the PC market / browser market. Apple would have not released the iMac, iPad, iPhone etc...   You can thank "interference" from our anti-trust laws for this. 
    tokyojimulordjohnwhorfinStrangeDaysleftoverbacon
  • Reply 20 of 22
    lordjohnwhorfinlordjohnwhorfin Posts: 791member
    spice-boy said:
    SpamSandwich said:
    Monopolies form BECAUSE of government protections and market interference. When markets are working, monopolies don’t form. This merger should go through.
    So complete wrong, upside down, reading using a mirror, please please please do some research into this, look at history books and don't get your information from online sources. I've said this before this website would not exist if it was not for Government intervention with Microsoft / Explorer and it's monopoly of the PC market / browser market. Apple would have not released the iMac, iPad, iPhone etc...   You can thank "interference" from our anti-trust laws for this. 
    He gets his information from a very reliable news source, InfoWars.com.
    StrangeDaysleftoverbaconspice-boy
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