SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
DOJ to approve T-Mobile/Sprint merger despite 13 states trying to block it
The Justice Department plans to approve the T-Mobile/Sprint merger as part of a settlement involving the sale of spectrum licenses, wholesale access, and a prepaid wireless business to Dish Network, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
"The companies have spent weeks negotiating with antitrust enforcers and each other over the sale of assets to Dish to satisfy concerns that the more than $26 billion merger of the No. 3 and No. 4 wireless carriers by subscribers would hurt competition," the Journal wrote, citing people familiar with the matter.
As a result of those negotiations, the DOJ is "poised to approve" the merger and could announce a settlement with T-Mobile and Sprint "as soon as this week, but the timing remains uncertain," the Journal wrote.
Even if the DOJ approves the merger, T-Mobile and Sprint will still have to defend it in court because of a lawsuit filed against them by 13 states and the District of Columbia.
Would you rather they each fail and get gobbled up by AT&T and Verizon, or join forces to have a chance to compete against them... and join in a battle against the the consumer?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 26 2019, @12:01AM (1 child)
Pretty much, if Sprint and T-Mobile can't compete, the answer is to break AT&T and Verizon up. 4 carriers is already too few. Moving to a system where there's only 3 is just going to cause even more problems. As it stands, the customers have limited options if they don't like the terms of the carrier they're with as they tend to have the same terms on an awful lot of their agreements.
Really, we need to go back to a time when antitrust laws were being enforced. There should be no more buying up all the competition until the customer has no choice but to buy your service or none at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 26 2019, @08:37PM
T-Mobile is fine. Sprint on the other hand is in big fucking trouble. They picked the wrong tech in 2005 and 1995 and are on the wrong side of the FCC auctions. Get away from a highway and it has terrible coverage.
This is their problem summed up nicely customer wise. A guy I know had 6 lines with them last week. Today he has 6 lines with verizon and half the cost. The customer reps would not work with him and were just happy to keep charging him 60 extra dollars a month for 3 phones that were paid off 2 years ago. Now he has 6 new shiny iPhones and half the cost per month... He went with the highest price carrier too! He spent nearly 10 hours on different customer reps to just get the next bill lowered. No paybacks or anything. He then spent a couple of hours getting a new set of phones in the lobby of a sprint store. They did nothing to help/stop him. Now verizon is no shining example of justice and virtue. But that shows why sprint is not doing very well. They are not long for this world.