T-Mobile Acquires Sprint
T-Mobile announced today that it has completed its acqui-merger of Sprint, creating what it calls a “supercharged Un-carrier.”
“During this extraordinary time, it has become abundantly clear how vital a strong and reliable network is to the world we live in,” T-Mobile president and CEO Mike Sievert said in a prepared statement. “The new T-Mobile’s commitment to delivering a transformative broad and deep nationwide 5G network is more important and more needed than ever and what we are building is mission-critical for consumers … T-Mobile has been changing wireless for good, and now we are going to do it on a whole new level.”
T-Mobile and Sprint had been exploring various linkups for years, but the most recent effort, which they described as a merger, was launched a year ago at the beginning of the 5G era. As expected, the deal came under heavy antitrust scrutiny because the combination of the two firms would effectively reduce the number of major U.S. wireless carriers from four to three. But the companies argued, effectively, that the merger would establish a third wireless carrier that would stand on more equal footing with AT&T and Verizon, the two dominant players.
As part of this transition, John Legere has stepped down from his highly public role as the old T-Mobile’s CEO. He had originally planned to step down on May 1, but with the merger approved and the firm’s ready to combine, he did so immediately.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to lead this company for the past seven years, but now it’s time for me to hand the reins over to Mike Sievert,” he said. “The Board of Directors and I agree that it makes perfect sense for Mike to assume his leadership role on day one of the new company. He’s ready.”
T-Mobile plans to “unify” Sprint under the T-Mobile brand through the summer.