T-Mobile-Sprint Merger Completed... US Telecom Industry Reshaped

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, ranked third and fourth in the U.S. mobile telecommunications industry, was officially completed on the 1st.

According to The New York Times (NYT) and others, T-Mobile announced that it finalized the acquisition of Sprint for $30 billion (approximately 37 trillion won) on that day. Along with the completion of the merger with Sprint, T-Mobile stated that CEO John Legere stepped down, and President and COO Mike Sievert took over the CEO position.

As a result, the U.S. mobile telecommunications market has been reorganized into a three-power structure consisting of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, with T-Mobile solidifying its position as the third largest. Verizon and AT&T are known to have market shares of around 34% each, while before the merger, T-Mobile and Sprint had market shares of 18% and 12%, respectively.

T-Mobile has 100 million customers and plans to accelerate the nationwide 5G network construction by utilizing the frequencies owned by Sprint. T-Mobile previously stated that without Sprint, building 5G would have required more time and cost.

Earlier, attorneys general from 13 states including New York and Washington D.C. filed lawsuits opposing the merger, arguing that it could limit competition. However, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of T-Mobile and Sprint last month. The two companies are awaiting the final approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) scheduled for the 16th of this month, but it is likely to be a mere formality.

The completion of this merger process is also expected to have a positive impact on Japan's SoftBank Group, which holds 84% of Sprint's shares. SoftBank has been burdened by Sprint's poor performance. NHK reported, "SoftBank will focus more on fund management as an investment company in the future," but added, "However, in the market, concerns about investment performance are growing based on the stock price decline."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.