The FCC's review of the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger is officially on hold.
The FCC announced today that it's pausing the informal 180-day shot clock on its review of T-Mobile and Sprint's deal. The agency explains that it needs more time to review documents and modeling that've been submitted recently by T-Mo and Sprint.
On September 5th, the FCC received a "substantially revised network engineering model" that completes T-Mobile and Sprint's previously-submitted network engineering model and is the one that the two companies plan to rely on. The FCC explains that this new model is larger and more complex than the one it had before, with new logic, methodologies, facts, and assumptions related to the merger's claimed network benefits.
Also delivered on September 5th was a new business model called "Build 9", which was described by T-Mobile execs on August 29th. This new business model gives the financial basis for the merged company's new network buildout.
Finally, T-Mobile recently said that it plans to submit more economic modeling in support of its merger.
All of these recently-submitted documents are complex and important to the proposed T-Mobile and Sprint merger, so the FCC is pausing its informal shot clock to ensure that both it and third-parties have enough time to review them. Considering how big the T-Mobile-Sprint merger is, it's a good idea for the FCC to take all the time it needs to ensure a thorough review before giving a thumbs up or thumbs down on the deal.
