Court Enters Final Judgment in T-Mobile/Sprint Transaction

A federal district court in Washington, D.C., concluded that the settlement reached with the merging parties and Dish Network Corp. to allow the T-Mobile/Sprint transaction to proceed, subject to substantial divestitures and other remedies, should proceed.

“I am pleased that the court has entered the final judgment, and I appreciate all of the work from Judge Kelly and the district court staff, particularly in the midst of the current COVID-19 disruption,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “The T-Mobile/Sprint transaction, as remedied by the Department of Justice, will combine T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s complementary spectrum assets while preserving competition.  Our settlement promises to expand output further by bringing Dish’s extensive spectrum holdings to the market.  The end result will be strengthened competition with high-quality 5G networks that will benefit American consumers nationwide.”

The Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit on July 26, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia along with the settlement that resolves the department’s competitive concerns.  The attorneys general for the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas have each joined in this settlement.  Separately, Judge Marrero in the Southern District of New York denied the request of New York, California, and a minority group of states to enjoin the proposed transaction nationwide.  Judge Marrero’s opinion relied, in part, on the ability of the Antitrust Division’s remedies to protect against competitive harms that may otherwise have occurred.

The FCC also approved the transaction after a thorough examination, with certain commitments as a condition of approval.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, T-Mobile and Sprint must divest Sprint’s prepaid business, including the Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Sprint prepaid brands, to Dish Network Corp., a Colorado-based satellite television provider.  The proposed settlement also provides for a divestiture of substantial spectrum assets to Dish.  Additionally, T-Mobile and Sprint must make available for divestiture to Dish at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail locations.  T-Mobile must also provide Dish with robust access to the T-Mobile network for a period of seven years while Dish transitions the business and builds out its 5G network.

T-Mobile US Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.  In 2018, T-Mobile posted revenues of more than $43 billion.  Deutsche Telekom AG, a German corporation headquartered in Bonn, Germany, is the controlling shareholder of T-Mobile US Inc.

Sprint Corporation is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.  In 2018, its posted revenue was over $32 billion. Sprint is controlled by SoftBank Group Corp., a Japanese corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.