T-Mobile, Sprint Announce Plans To Merge

BELLEVUE, WA — T-Mobile and Sprint have announced plans to merge into one company. The company would be called T-Mobile and will have headquarters in both Bellevue, Washington, the current location for T-Mobile's headquarters, and Overland Park, Kansas, Sprint's current home.

If approved by federal regulators, John Legere, T-Mobile's CEO, would run the new company, and T-Mobile COO Mike Sievert would become the new company’s COO and President, according to The Verge.

Legere said in a Tweet on Sunday that the new company will be a "larger, stronger competitor" and be a "force for positive change" for all U.S. consumers and businesses.

The merger will allow the companies to reduce prices and take advantage of greater economies of scale, the companies said. The merger will enable them to begin installing a nationwide 5G network, the companies said.

“Going from 4G to 5G is like going from black and white to color TV,” Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s CEO, said in a joint news release. “It’s a seismic shift — one that only the combined company can unlock nationwide to fuel the next wave of mobile innovation.”

The new company would have nearly 100 million retail subscribers, The New York Times reported. Under the stock-only, Sprint would be valued at about $26.5 billion and T-Mobile would be valued at roughly$54.1 billion.

“This combination will create a fierce competitor with the network scale to deliver more for consumers and businesses in the form of lower prices, more innovation, and a second-to-none network experience — and do it all so much faster than either company could on its own,” Legere said in the joint news release.

This isn't the first time the two wireless service providers have tried to join forces. Four years ago, regulators opposed their merger plans. Last year, the companies couldn't agree on control of the company.

Historically, federal regulators have opposed deals that would lower the number of national U.S. competitors from four to three, Axios reported. The news outlet says the deal is expected to close next year.

I’m excited to announce that @TMobile & @Sprint
have reached an agreement to come together to form a new company – a larger, stronger competitor that will be a force for positive change for all US consumers and businesses! Watch this & click through for details.
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 29, 2018

Photo credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images