T-Mobile US and Sprint Corporation have announced that they have successfully received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for their proposed merger transaction. Additionally, the US Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Defence (collectively referred to as Team Telecom), have submitted a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) confirming that they have reviewed the transaction pertaining to potential national security, law enforcement and public safety issues, and have no objections to the merger. The completion of the combination remains subject to regulatory approvals and certain other customary closing conditions and is expected to occur during the first half of 2019.
John Legere, CEO at T-Mobile US, commented: ‘We are pleased to achieve both of these important milestones in the journey to build the New T-Mobile. We are a step closer to offering customers a supercharged disruptor that will create jobs from day one and deliver a real alternative to fixed broadband while delivering the first broad and deep nationwide 5G network for the United States.’
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, T-Mobile and Sprint entered into a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction in April 2018. They seek to create a company which will be 41.7% owned by T-Mobile’s parent Deutsche Telekom (DT, which would have overall control) and 27.4% owned by Sprint parent SoftBank Group Corp, with the remaining 30.9% in free float.