back to article Sprint, T-Mobile US reignite mega-merger talks (again)

Sprint and T‑Mobile US are in talks to create a third major US wireless carrier. A report published Tuesday by financial network CNBC cited the ever-chatty "sources familiar" in reporting that the two telcos are back in talks for an all-stock deal that would see the parent company of T‑Mobile US – Deutsche Telekom – take over …

  1. Uncle Ron

    Oligopoly

    Having a three-way oligopoly is, possibly, worse than a monopoly. These three could simply look sideways and slowly inch everything up, and everything down. No real competition any more. No innovation. Advance technology at a snail's pace. They don't have to collude, to collude. If this is allowed to happen, American is even more sunk than it already is.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oligopoly

      Not sure why a three way oligopoly would be significantly worse than the current four way oligopoly.

      1. Solarflare
      2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: Oligopoly

        Not sure why a three way oligopoly would be significantly worse than the current four way oligopoly.

        Research suggests this but it's not clear cut:

        http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mobile-europe-m-a/austria-becomes-battleground-in-fight-over-mobile-mergers-idUKKBN0OP0ET20150609

  2. Swarthy
    Meh

    This could work....

    If they just add Sprint's Customers, Spectrum, and Network to T-Mobile this could, possibly, not suck. If they move T-Mo to Sprint, the US mobile market is super-fucked. If they keep Sprint's customer service (Motto: "Servicing customers the way the bull services the cow") then we are only slightly more screwed than current.

    I like T-Mobile as the scrappy under-dog, it drives them to do things that the big CellCos won't can't do (unlimited* data, charge less per month, freebies, and actually help the customer when calling about an issue or problem) which in turn forces AT&T et Verizon to actually improve themselves, if even a little.

  3. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    On the other hand, AT&T and Verizon would likely use their significant lobbying budgets to lean on regulators to kill the merger

    There's little evidence to suggest this. A three-way spilt would probably suit all three more than the current situation where T-Mobile is aggressively trying to gain market share.

    Consolidation in industries is the hallmark of the US economy over the last few years and is the reason for corporate profits (and prices) continuing to rise. Cf. the current round of consolidation in the aerospace supply industry. Over a wide range of industries the US is significantly less competitive than elsewhere in the world.

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