For the last year, T-Mobile and Sprint have been telling anyone who’ll listen that their planned $26 billion merger will bring some incredible benefits to American consumers. To hear the companies tell it, the industry’s latest super-union will result in faster speeds, broader broadband deployment, and a dramatic boost in well-paying American jobs. But if you’ve seen telecom mergers go through this process before, there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical.
'“A sad joke, and nothing more”' “Even if Chairman Pai’s successor was more willing to enforce these conditions, they would certainly be subject to delaying tactics and litigation from the ‘new’ T-Mobile,” Sohn said. Both companies have already said they would have deployed these 5G networks anyway to keep pace with AT&T and Verizon, so the proposed merger can’t fairly take credit for their 5G rollout.