It was starting to look like a Sprint-T-Mobile merger was going to happen, but now that’s no longer the case.
Sprint parent company SoftBank wants to end merger talks with T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom, according to Nikkei. SoftBank will propose that the negotiations end as soon as tomorrow, October 31st.
As for why it wants to cut off merger talks, it’s said that SoftBank is not willing to cede control of the combined Sprint-T-Mobile to Deutsche Telekom. DT had insisted on a controlling stake, and while some at SoftBank were okay with this arrangement, SoftBank’s board recently decided that it would not give up control.
Several reports have surfaced in recent weeks that suggested that DT and SoftBank had agreed on a broad deal and were working on the finer details of the deal. A merger announcement was expected in November. Now it looks like the deal may not happen, with control over the combined Sprint-T-Mobile being a sticking point for SoftBank.
It’s still possible that DT and SoftBank will reach some sort of reworked arrangement, but today the Sprint-T-Mobile deal that looked like it was going to happen now may not. Stay tuned.
