T-Mobile Seals Blockbuster Merger Deal with Sprint, Creating a ‘Fierce Competitor’ to AT&T, Verizon
Sprint and T-Mobile have sealed a blockbuster merger agreement, producing a telecom behemoth that values the combined company at $146 billion, the two carriers announced on Sunday.
Both Sprint and T-Mobile have lagged behind Verizon and AT&T, the two largest wireless companies, and the proposed deal keeps the new company entrenched at number three. The proposed all-stock deal values Sprint at about $59 billion and the combined company at $146 billion, including debt. Without debt, the combined company is valued at $26.5 billion.
The new company — which is touting an ability to create a large scale 5G network and thousands of U.S. jobs — will preserve T-Mobile’s name, and will have dual headquarters in Bellevue, Wash. and Overland Park, Kan. John Legere, T-Mobile’s current CEO, will retain the top job in the newly formed carrier.
“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,” said Legere, in a statement.
“As industry lines blur and we enter the 5G era, consumers and businesses need a company with the disruptive culture and capabilities to force positive change on their behalf,” the CEO added.
The news confirms CNBC’s earlier reporting hat the two companies would strike an agreement. The companies came close to a merger agreement in November, before SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son pulled out after weeks of talks.
The agreement still faces stiff regulatory scrutiny from the Trump administration, which has thrown up resistance to at least one other mega-deal in ATT’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner.
If approved, the combined T-Mobile would have an estimated 120 million subscribers, but would be better positioned to compete against Verizon and AT&T. Both companies have more than 100 million subscribers each, and both have mapped out a strategy for transitioning to 5G within the near term.
“We remain focused on providing customers with the most reliable 4G network as we build the world’s first and best Ultra-Wideband 5G network – not just a proposal that may or may not happen in the next couple of years,” said Richard Young, a Verizon spokesperson, in a statement.
“As we’ve seen time and time again, there’s Verizon’s network and then there’s all the rest,” he added.
Courtesy : CNBC
Photo : gettyimages.com
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