A recent report claimed that T-Mobile and Sprint are in active merger talks, and now a new rumor claims that those negotiations may be further along than we thought.
T-Mobile and Sprint are close to agreeing to “tentative terms” on a merger deal. That’s according to two sources speaking to Reuters who add that a deal could be struck by the end of October, following the finalizing of terms and due diligence.
If a deal is reached, it’s expected that T-Mobile CEO John Legere would lead the combined company. SoftBank, which owns a majority of Sprint, would reportedly own between 40 and 50 percent of the combined T-Mobile-Sprint, while Deutsche Telekom would own a majority stake.
The sources of today’s report caution that talks may still fall through. The parties involved also have concerns that a T-Mobile Sprint deal would face scrutiny from regulators who feel that the U.S. wireless market is too concentrated.
Combining T-Mobile and Sprint would be a big deal in the U.S. While T-Mobile has grown massively in recent years, it’s still well behind the total number of customers that Verizon and AT&T have. A combined T-Mobile-Sprint would have around 130 million customers, right behind Verizon and AT&T.
While it remains to be seen if a T-Mobile-Sprint deal will get done, many feel that such a merger would have a better shot now than it did back in 2014 due to the new administration.
