T-Mobile merger put on the backburner, as Sprint enters exclusive talks with Comcast
The much ballyhooed potential for a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint is suddenly being put on hold, report the proverbial "sources familiar with the matter," as Sprint will be entering exclusive two-month talks with Comcast and Charter.
The cable companies recently made a push into mobile, and an arrangement with Sprint will only boost those efforts significantly. They could, for instance, invest into a better Sprint network, and in return get perks and discounts as MVNO entities perusing Sprint's established coverage.
Alternatively, the two could team up and outright acquire Sprint, but its market cap plus debt total north of $60 billion, so a preferential network treatment for Comcast/Charter would be the more likely outcome of the talks, and that scenario wouldn't be mutually exclusive with a T-Mobile merger still. In any case, Sprint's Chairman Masayoshi Son has reportedly signed up for an exclusive discussions agreement with the cable firms until at least late July, so there might be no T-Mobile/Sprint merger news until then, it seems.
source: Fox Business
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