Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc announced a series of changes to their proposed $26-billion deal on Monday, while U.S. regulators were expected to announce agreement on the conditions necessary to approve the merger, sources said.
The Federal Communications Commission will not formally approve the merger on Monday and will need to draft an order, two people briefed on the matter said. The agreement does not resolve the U.S. Justice Department’s ongoing review of the merger. T-Mobile and Sprint filed commitments with the FCC on Monday in hopes of winning approval for their merger, one source familiar with the matter said.FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said on Monday he will recommend his colleagues vote to approve the merger. Once an order is drafted, the five-member commission must vote to approve or reject the deal.
T-Mobile announced on Monday that the companies were extending a deadline to complete their deal to July 29. The two are among just four national wireless carriers, with Verizon Communications and AT&T leading the pack. Regulators are expected to make a decision on the deal in early June. They will be weighing a potential loss of competition, and subsequently higher prices for consumers, against the prospect of a more powerful No. 3 wireless carrier which can work to build a faster, better 5G next generation wireless network.Due to technical reasons, we have temporarily removed commenting from our articles. We hope to have this fixed soon. Thank you for your patience.