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[eddie4]

The Department of Justice announced Friday it has reached an agreement on the more than $26 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint.

“The reported deal would eliminate Sprint, an established competitor in the wireless marketplace, and replace it with Dish, an unproven newcomer that has no experience in building its own wireless network, which it will need to build essentially from scratch,” George Slover, senior policy counsel for Consumer Reports said in a statement.

As part of the agreement, Sprint will divest its Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint prepaid phone businesses. Sprint and T-Mobile will divest some of their wireless spectrum to Dish and make at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail stores available to the company. Dish will also be able to access T-Mobile’s network for seven years.

Separately, Dish announced it struck an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission to establish a 5G broadband network covering 70% of the U.S. population by June 2023. If it doesn’t meet that deadline, it will pay the U.S. Treasury as much as $2.2 billion.

However, T-Mobile and Sprint still face an ongoing lawsuit from 13 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia.

src:

DOJ announces agreement on $26 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint

T-Mobile and Sprint still face a lawsuit from 13 state attorneys general before the deal can close.

www.cnbc.com

T-Mobile and Sprint get DOJ approval for $26 billion merger deal | TechCrunch

The U.S. Department of Justice this morning gave the green light to T-Mobile US and Sprint for their proposed $26 billion merger. The deal, which would

techcrunch.com

merge me if old.

 

[PSYGN]

The interesting news to me is Dish coming into the space. And being bold about establishing 5G to about 70% of US population by June 2023.

 

[eddie4]

The interesting news to me is Dish coming into the space. And being bold about 70% of US population having 5G by June 2023.

Yeah, I mean, if they're merging because they wanted less competition, why are they creating more competition by selling all the prepaid stuff to DISH?

 

[iconmaster]

Yeah, I mean, if they're merging because they wanted less competition, why are they creating more competition by selling all the prepaid stuff to DISH?

Sounds like they had to, to get the merger through.

 

[off duty ninja]

Is this Dish as in Dish Network? What a weird fucked up world this is.

 

[eddie4]

Sounds like they had to, to get the merger through.

I guess so, plus they still have 13 lawsuits to settle.

 

[eddie4]

Is this Dish as in Dish Network? What a weird fucked up world this is.

YEP

Dish confirms that it will become a major US mobile carrier

The company promises to reach 70 percent of the US with 5G by 2023.

www.theverge.com

 

[off duty ninja]

YEP

Dish confirms that it will become a major US mobile carrier

The company promises to reach 70 percent of the US with 5G by 2023.

www.theverge.com

Damn, I worked for them years ago in their call center. I kinda thought they weren't even a player anymore. I guess they must have some friends in the FCC/DoJ.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

 

[Super Mario]

"Something something companies are getting too big. This is bad"

Me: "Something something it has nothing to do with the size of the companies, but the crushing regulations that prevent smaller companies from competing"

 

[EightBit Man]

People will find out soon enough what 5G really is, and why there is this push for it.

 

[Ornlu]

What in the actual fuck. Do we really need fewer choices with mobile service?

My main takeaway from this is that "Dish" is going to be paying the U.S. treasury $2.2 billion in 2023. There's no way in hell they meet that requirement and timeline.

 

[PSYGN]

Do you think they will somehow make use of all the Dish satellites to make some kind of a grid? Surely they have a game plan because that's one hell of a fine if they don't.

 

[Ornlu]

Do you think they will somehow make use of all the Dish satellites to make some kind of a grid? Surely they have a game plan because that's one hell of a fine if they don't.

Not really for a national level telecom company. You'd have to think that amount would have to be baked into the price during the hacking up/buying phase.

 

[PSYGN]

if Dish fails to meet its 5G deployment deadlines, Dish will make voluntary contributions to the US Treasury of up to $2.2 billion.

So technically they can make a voluntary contribution of $1, but no more than $2.2 billion. Those suckers.

 

[Rest]

Is this Dish as in Dish Network? What a weird fucked up world this is.

Sprint and Dish Network have spent the last 10 years trying to buy each other.