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US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger

arstechnica.com

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Re: US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger

#5
To me this makes a lot more sense than the T-Mobile At&t merger that failed to go through.

Sprint is a pretty dead brand and provider. They were actually giving away a year of free service without any obligation (you only had to pay $2 tax/fee) and people still would not switch to it.

T-Mobile has pushed the other carriers to bring back unlimited plans and they've separated the phone cost from the plan itself (allowing people to more easily switch carriers and bring their own phone).

Allowing T-Mobile to get more customers and a stronger position might be a good thing in order to compete with Verizon and At&t.

Re: US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger

#8
post #4

We are currently in "merger insanity". I'm wondering how many companies will be left before this ends?

I don't know if Sprint would survive if not for the T-Mobile acquisition. They have a lot of debt. I think the most these states will get is some restrictions on T-Mobile.

Re: US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger

#9
US Antitrust law is among its most archaic, even though they are relatively young. Even the term Trust speaks to an a term that is no longer in common parlance. As there is discussion about 'breaking up' Facebook and others, the murkiness of the law is painfully clear.

They should be referred to as competition laws, and they should be plainly understood and work at preventing and penalizing anti-competitive behavior. De facto digital monopolies have emerged as they have been freely allowed to act against their competition in ways that would have never been tolerated in meatspace.

Re: US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger

#10
Why do people think Sprint is so bad, and what does that say about our cellular market? It looks like I can get 5 lines for $150/month, with a 50GB soft-cap and 50GB of hotspot. That's less than half of what I pay for Verizon.

Such a lower-cost alternative should be able to attract customers in droves. Why can't Sprint?

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