US: T-Mobile, Sprint deal interest renewed, but obstacles remain

Japan’s SoftBank may have renewed interest in combining its Sprint with Deutsche Telekom T-Mobile US
but a deal between the No. 3 and No. 4 US wireless carriers may not make it past US regulators, antitrust experts and industry watchers said.

SoftBank is prepared to give up control of Sprint to T-Mobile, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The companies are expected to begin negotiations in April after the Federal Communications Commission’s auction of airwaves concludes.

But two and a half years ago, SoftBank abandoned talks to acquire T-Mobile for Sprint amid opposition from US antitrust regulators.

It is hard to know how the new administration will view such a deal since President Donald Trump’s comments on antitrust have so far been populist, in contrast to the less skeptical view that past Republican administrations have taken of mergers, legal experts said.

“I am of the camp that that will not happen even in a Trump administration,” Christopher Marangi, co-chief investment officer at GAMCO Investors, said on the prospect of a deal. “That kind of merger means lots of job cuts in the US”

Job creation is a key platform for Trump. He has also been sharply critical of companies that have moved manufacturing operations to Mexico and elsewhere.

Full Content: Reuters

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