By Tali Arbel and Marcy Gordon, Associated Press, July 26, 2019
U.S. regulators have approved T-Mobile US Inc.’s $26.5-billion takeover of rival Sprint Corp., despite fears of higher prices and job cuts, in a deal that would leave just three major cellphone companies in the country.
Friday’s approval from the Justice Department and five state attorneys general comes after Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to conditions that would set up satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. as a smaller rival to Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and the combined T-Mobile-Sprint company. The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, said the conditions set up Dish “as a disruptive force in wireless.”
But attorneys general from other states — including California — and public-interest advocates say that Dish is hardly a replacement for a stand-alone Sprint and that the conditions fail to address the competitive harm the deal would cause: higher prices, job losses and fewer choices for consumers.
“By signing off on this merger, the Justice Department has done nothing to remedy the short- and long-term harms the loss of an independent Sprint will create for U.S. wireless users,” said S. Derek Turner, research director for the advocacy group Free Press.
The approval still needs a federal judge to sign off, as Sprint and T-Mobile’s settlement with the Justice Department includes conditions. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to give the takeover its blessing.
Dish is paying $5 billion for Sprint’s prepaid cellphone brands including Boost and Virgin Mobile — with about 9 million customers — and some spectrum, or airwaves for wireless service, from T-Mobile and Sprint. Dish will also be able to rent T-Mobile’s network for seven years while it builds its own…
Continue reading at the Los Angeles Times HERE.
