Judge will reportedly rule in favor T-Mobile-Sprint merger tomorrow
This iteration of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger has always been about 5G
But T-Mobile made some concessions to the FCC and promised to cover certain percentages of the U.S. with 5G signals (including rural areas) and also agreed to freeze prices for three years after the merger closes. To appease the Justice Department, which was concerned about lessening competition, Sprint worked out a deal to help set up Dish Network as a new major wireless provider. In exchange for a $5 billion sum, Sprint agreed to sell the satellite television provider its prepaid businesses including Boost Mobile, 9.3 million customers, 7,500 retail offices, 400 employees, 14MHz of 800MHz spectrum and more. Dish will sign a seven-year MVNO contract allowing it to offer wireless service under its name until it is able to build out its 5G network.
Speaking about 5G, the merger has always been about the next generation of wireless connectivity. Did you ever wonder why the fastest-growing wireless carrier in the U.S. would be interested in the worst-performing of the four majors? That’s because this iteration of the deal has never been about operations. T-Mobile covets Sprint’s hoard of 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum. Such airwaves are hard to obtain in the U.S. and T-Mobile currently employs its low-band 600MHz airwaves to provide nationwide 5G service. It also has ultra high-speed mmWave spectrum in seven urban areas. Both 600MHz and mmWave airwaves have certain attributes. The former travels farther and penetrates structures well, but does not deliver the fastest download data speeds. On the other hand, mmWave signals can only travel short distances but do provide much faster download data speeds. Mid-band spectrum has characteristics that lie in the middle of the two extremes.
T-Mobile’s Legere testified during the trial that with Sprint’s mid-band spectrum, T-Mobile will have “”triple the total 5G capacity of standalone T-Mobile and Sprint combined.” That will allow it to offer its services to more rural and low-income Americans while giving first responders free unlimited service with its Connecting Heroes Initiative. Without the merger, the executive says that in some markets T-Mobile will “exhaust capacity in the next two to four years.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.