eployment of superfast 5G networks.
"With this merger and accompanying divestiture, we are expanding output significantly by ensuring that large amounts of currently unused or underused spectrum are made available to American consumers in the form of high quality 5G networks," said Makan Delrahim, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.
"The T-Mobile and Sprint merger we announced last April will create a bigger and bolder competitor than ever before -- one that will deliver the most transformative 5G network in the country, lower prices, better quality, unmatched value and thousands of jobs," said T-Mobile chief executive John Legere, who will retain the CEO job upon completion of the merger.
No timetable for finalizing the merger, which was first announced more than a year ago, was given on Friday.Consumer groups and others have criticized the deal, arguing that too much concentration would lead to higher prices. "DOJ does not need to bend over backwards to fix a bad merger. It can simply block the deal," he said."This arrangement does not offer cellphone users a viable fourth competitor in the wireless market," Turner said.Avery Gardiner, an antitrust fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said the decision to approve the deal "goes against decades of settled principles" of competition.