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US: Sprint, T-Mobile promote merger with joint spectrum bid

By  |  July 21, 2014

Sprint and T-Mobile are reportedly planning to jointly bid on spectrum during next year’s auction in efforts to promote their proposed merger, reports say.

Unnamed sources say that the companies are meeting with separate counsels to form a joint-bidding team for next year’s auction, planned by the Federal Communications Commission. Reports say the joint venture was initiated by Sprint parent company SoftBank.

SoftBank is reportedly seeking a way to convince authorities that Sprint and T-Mobile can effectively cooperate, and is using next year’s auction to promote their tie-up. Reports say the companies would pool their resources to be able to pay more money to the government for the spectrum.

Analysts suggest that the spectrum bidding has less to do with acquiring actual spectrum and more to do with proving that the companies can work together for the benefit of the consumer.

Reports say the companies have reached a $32 billion merger deal, though are not expected to formally announce their plans until next month.

Full content: Bloomberg

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