T-Mobile and Sprint had been in talks for a while now to have possible merger between the two companies. In a joint statement however, it appears that both wireless carriers have decided to call off their merger.
In the brief joint statement, the companies said they were “unable to find a mutually agreeable terms.” Since T-Mobile’s business model is doing fairly well, it has an upper hand when it comes to merger with Sprint. Because of this, Deutsche Telekom wanted to have a majority controlling ownership stake. This didn’t sit well with Sprint.
Japanese-based carrier SoftBank, owner of Sprint, then proceeded to plan on breaking off the merger talks because of dispute over ownership of the combined company. The two companies did, however, reach a broad pact for the merger, but couldn’t agree on who would control the newly-formed entity. Deutsche Telekom insisted that they hold the majority controlling stake. SoftBank originally was open to this agreement but later changed its mind.
The possible merger between nation’s third and fourth largest carriers have been going around for years now. Sprint has failed to produce the numbers SoftBank thought it would and is essentially bleeding cash. Sprint’s wireless network hasn’t improved much and continues to struggle in terms of providing better service.
T-Mobile on the other hand was able to turn things around for itself under the leadership of CEO John Legere and “Uncarrier” initiative. It continues to dominate the wireless market. Both Verizon and AT&T brought back unlimited data plans that were once promised to be gone forever. Both T-Mobile and Sprint lag behind carriers Verizon and AT&T.
The Jolt Journal reached out to Sprint and T-Mobile for additional comments and received a response stating that they had no additional comments after the statement.
