DOJ approves T-Mobile-Sprint merger

The Department of Justice on Friday announced it has approved the $26 billion T-Mobile–Sprint merger, paving the way towards a deal that will combine two of the country’s largest mobile carriers into one company with more than 80 million U.S. customers.

The department’s approval means both federal agencies overseeing the merger have given it their blessing, though a legal challenge by state attorneys general could still block the deal from going through.

The DOJ’s plan requires T-Mobile and Sprint to hand over assets including wireless spectrum and subscribers to Dish, a satellite television company that has been tapped to create a mobile network to compete with the merged company.

The DOJ came to the agreement with the state attorneys general for Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota, none of which are involved in the separate lawsuit from the states to block the merger.

During a press conference announcing the deal, DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim argued the remedies will help set up Dish as a strong competitor, calling it a potentially “disruptive force.”

“In our view and in our judgements, this remedy package is actually better than the status quo because consumers will benefit, the economy will benefit and frankly we’ll probably have more competition than we have today,” he said.

Under the deal with DOJ, T-Mobile and Sprint are required to divest Sprint’s prepaid businesses including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint prepaid, to Dish. It would also be allowed to use T-Mobile’s network during a seven-year transition period “while Dish builds out its own 5G network,” according to DOJ.