The US Justice Department is set to decide as early as next week whether to approve the US$26.5-billion merger of wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, Reuters reported Friday, June 14.
Earlier last week, Dish Network executives met with the Justice Department’s antitrust chief Makan Delrahim and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai as part of the government’s review of the deal, which could dramatically reshape the US wireless market.
A federal filing Friday revealed Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen was among the executives who attended the meeting Tuesday, and the firm “discussed its opposition to the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile as currently constructed.”
Pai agreed last month to support the merger of the third- and fourth-largest US wireless carriers, in part because the firms agreed to divest the prepaid service Boost Mobile.
Verizon Communications Inc, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint control more than 98% of the US wireless market and have wireless service revenues of more than US$160 billion. T-Mobile and Sprint combined have more than 135 million customers, while Verizon and AT&T control two-thirds of the total US wireless market.
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