It's done: T-Mobile and Sprint have officially merged.
T-Mobile and Sprint confirmed today that their merger is complete, forming the New T-Mobile.
As part of the merger's closing, T-Mo is completing its CEO transition earlier than previously announced. Mike Sievert is now CEO of T-Mobile, though John Legere will continue on as a member of T-Mo's board of directors through June 2020.
T-Mobile touts that its network is going to be much-improved by combining its spectrum with Sprint's. With the combination of low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum from the two carriers, T-Mo says its network will have 14 times more capacity in the next 6 years than it has today.
The New T-Mobile's 5G network is expected to reach 99% of the US population and offer average 5G speeds of more than 100Mbps to 90% of the population within the next 6 years. And for those in rural communities, T-Mo says that it will cover 90% of the rural US population with average 5G speeds of 50Mbps.
As part of its merger with Sprint, T-Mobile has said that it'll offer the same or better rate plans for T-Mo and Sprint customers for three years. T-Mobile also previously announced a few Un-carrier moves it would be making if the merger was completed, including the $15 T-Mobile Connect plan that it launched last week amid the coronavirus outbreak.
T-Mobile says it will provide free unlimited talk, text, and smartphone data to first responders at public and non-profit state and local agencies. Additionally, it plans to offer up to 100GB of free internet access and a free Wi-Fi hotspot to 10 million homes over five years to help kids do their schoolwork at home.
Another important aspect of this merger is Dish Network becoming a carrier. In order to gain approval for the merger from the US Department of Justice, T-Mobile and Sprint struck a deal with Dish to make it the fourth competitor in the US wireless market to replace Sprint.
As part of this deal, Dish will acquire Sprint's prepaid businesses, including Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile as well as those 9.3 million customers. Dish is also buying Sprint's nationwide portfolio of 800MHz spectrum to be used to build out its new 5G network.
While Dish is building that network, it'll have access to 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail stores from T-Mobile and Sprint to help get its wireless business going. Dish will also have "robust access" to the T-Mobile network for seven years.