Department of Justice Wants T-Mobile to Create New Competitor as Part of Sprint Merger Deal

 
The DoJ, Department of Justice seem to have handed over some new conditions for the expected merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, lay the groundwork for a new wireless carrier -- with its own network.
Looks like the solutions and concessions that T-Mobile and Sprint offered to gain the FCC’s blessing may have not been enough to convince the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim. He is still said to be concerned over shrinking the field of competitors and another carrier so the US will still be left with four at the end.
From the start, the biggest concern surrounding the T-Mobile/Sprint merger was it would reduce the number of national carriers from four to three, hindering competition. But the companies have argued that their deal would create a stronger No. 3 to market leaders Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.
Bloomberg notes that discussions between the carriers and the DoJ have “been productive,” with both T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure seen outside the Justice Department on Wednesday.
hares of Sprint gained as much as 2.4% to $6.96 in late trading after Bloomberg reported on the discussions and then dropped. T-Mobile was little changed towards the positive side.