DOJ Congratulates T-Mobile And Dish For Closing The Boost Divestiture

T-Mobile US (T-Mobile) and Dish Network Corporation (Dish) announced that they closed T-Mobile’s divestiture of Boost Network (Boost) to Dish.  Boost was legacy Sprint Corporation’s prepaid wireless brand, and the transaction was completed pursuant to the remedies imposed by the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission.

“I congratulate T-Mobile and Dish for closing the Boost divestiture as required under the Final Judgment,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “This deal is a significant milestone in realizing the Department of Justice’s remedy, which is designed to strengthen competition for high-quality 5G networks and benefit American consumers nationwide.”

The Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit on July 26, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia along with the settlement that resolves the department’s competitive concerns.  

Judge Kelly entered final judgment in that matter on April 1, 2020.  The attorneys general for the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas each joined in this settlement.  Separately, Judge Marrero in the Southern District of New York denied the request of a minority group of states to enjoin the transaction nationwide.  Judge Marrero’s opinion relied, in part, on the federal remedies designed to protect against the competitive harms that may otherwise have occurred.

The FCC also approved the transaction after a thorough examination, with certain commitments as a condition of approval.