Verizon's CEO on the mega merger of T-Mobile and Sprint: 'We don’t care'

by Daniel Petrov / May 04, 2018, 1:25 AM

Verizon's CEO on the mega merger of T-Mobile and Sprint: 'We don’t care'

Verizon's CEO Lowell McAdam is cool as a nightly breeze when it comes to the looming merger of Sprint with T-Mobile, under the auspices of a... new T-Mobile. Pressed to comment on the eventual deal, which will make the third-largest US carrier almost as big as AT&T, and will realize cost saving synergies of up to $64 billion, Mr McAdam was nonplussed: "We frankly don’t care." Verizon's 5G efforts are way ahead of the competition, he mentioned before an annual meeting, so the carrier can feel pretty confident about any movers and shakers in the wireless space resulting from the proposed deal.

The largest US carrier has no plans to put anti-trust, or any other kind of objections in front of the merger, and is simply taking a wait-and-see approach. "We don’t have a point of view on whether it goes through or it doesn’t," added Verizon's CEO. Sprint and T-Mobile are selling the merger as the best thing that will happen to the 5G rollout since, well, the 4G rollout, as you can see in the joint video of the two CEOs above.

A merger effort was once blocked by President Obama's White House on the premise of limiting competition, consumer choice, and the potential for raising prices, and if we get a Democratic President in two years, the result is likely to be the same. The current White House is much more likely to let a merger go through, plus there is a short window to do it, before the next FCC spectrum auction hits in November, and all carriers are forbidden to talk deals and mergers before the results are disclosed. This time may be the charm to have Sprint gone for good, but Verizon is either playing it cool, or honey badger don't care indeed.

via SeattleTimes

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10 Comments

1. TheOracle1

Posts: 2147; Member since: May 04, 2015

Not caring about what the competition is doing has led to the demise of many companies. His arrogance is misplaced.

posted on May 04, 2018, 3:22 AM 6

5. acme64

Posts: 124; Member since: Jul 13, 2015

you're confusing confidence with arrogance. VZ didn't become top dog by mistake.

posted on May 04, 2018, 10:49 AM 0

10. TheOracle1

Neither did BlackBerry, Nokia, RCA, Sears........... Should I continue? You're being naive.

posted on May 05, 2018, 4:26 AM 1

2. Omarc07

Posts: 574; Member since: Nov 12, 2012

Don't care? he should fix his network here in Los Angeles, tried many phones ,new Sims I am ready to switch to At& or T-Mobile which work better . 3G or 1x inside buildings and many stores while the other two have lte. Even outside when I have lte its slower than the other two. Dropped calls when I get 1x and the ones that do connect sound real bad .

posted on May 04, 2018, 4:26 AM 0

3. Eclectech

Posts: 346; Member since: May 01, 2013

The merger of Sprint and T-Mobile would actually benefit Verizon because there would be less price competition so that's why he "doesn't care."

posted on May 04, 2018, 5:53 AM 2

4. palmguy

Posts: 974; Member since: Mar 22, 2011

Not to mention gaining a few who will jump ship from T-Mobile/Sprint because they won't like the change.

posted on May 04, 2018, 6:22 AM 0

6. Poptart2828

Posts: 343; Member since: Jan 23, 2018

Verizon will care in a few years time when they start losing customers to T mobile and their better prices

posted on May 04, 2018, 11:03 AM 1

7. BuffaloSouce

Posts: 1251; Member since: May 01, 2017

Can you provide facts to back that up or do I have to buy a crystal ball...

posted on May 04, 2018, 11:27 AM 0

8. darkemperor666 unregistered

Verizon's CEO is an idiot. Remember when Verizon said that unlimited data was not need it. They started loosing customers left and right, and brought back unlimited to get customers back. I hope T-mobile or At&t takes Verizon down.

posted on May 04, 2018, 1:46 PM 0

9. Junito

Posts: 143; Member since: Feb 12, 2012

Verizon happy with this deal. Now it will be a three way monopoly. There's going to be some serious price fixing. You are going to see prices climb now.