FCC Chief Gives Nod on T-Mobile - Sprint Deal, DOJ Leans Against

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he’ll recommend his agency approve the T-Mobile - Sprint, but the Justice Department is leaning against $26.5 billion merger, according to Bloomberg.

The deal announced last year to combine the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless service providers needs approval from both authorities to succeed. The companies told the FCC they would sell Sprint’s Boost prepaid brand, build an advanced 5G network over three years, and pledge not to raise prices while the network is being constructed.

“Two of the FCC’s top priorities are closing the digital divide in rural America and advancing United States leadership in 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity,“ Pai said in a statement. “The commitments made today by T-Mobile and Sprint would substantially advance each of these critical objectives.“ The deal needs votes from at least three commissioners on the five-member FCC, where Pai leads the Republican majority.

The Justice Department might halt the deal. It is leaning against approving T- proposed takeover, according to a person familiar with the review. The remedies proposed by the wireless carriers don’t go far enough to resolve the department’s concerns that the deal risks harming competition, said the person, who asked not to be named.

Opposition to the deal by the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, would mark a rare break with the FCC. The two agencies work side by side on merger reviews and typically emerge on the same page about whether to approve deals.