The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed an amended complaint that adds Arkansas as a plaintiff in the suit and proposed settlement relating to the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.  Arkansas joins Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota in the settlement, which is designed to launch Dish Network Corp., a Colorado-based satellite television provider, as a fourth nationwide provider of retail mobile wireless services.  In addition to protecting competition, the proposed settlement will expedite the availability of high-quality 5G networks for American consumers and entrepreneurs.

“We are gratified that Arkansas shares our view of the tremendous benefits to competition that will arise out of the proposed consent judgment,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “A combined T-Mobile and Sprint, coupled with competition from Dish, will provide increased value to residents of Arkansas and consumers nationwide.” 

The Department’s Antitrust Division and now nine co-plaintiff states have sued to block this transaction, and have agreed to settle the lawsuit based on the proposed settlement.  That settlement, if approved by the court, would resolve the Justice Department’s and the co-plaintiff states’ competitive concerns.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, T-Mobile and Sprint must divest Sprint’s prepaid business, including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint prepaid, to Dish.  The proposed settlement also provides for the divestiture of certain spectrum assets to Dish.  Additionally, T-Mobile and Sprint must make available to Dish at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail locations.  T-Mobile must also provide Dish with robust access to the T-Mobile network for a period of seven years while Dish builds out its own 5G network.

T-Mobile US Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.  In 2018, T-Mobile posted revenues of more than $43 billion.  Deutsche Telekom AG, a German corporation headquartered in Bonn, Germany, is the controlling shareholder of T-Mobile US Inc. 

Sprint Corporation is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.  In 2018, its posted revenue was over $32 billion.  Sprint is controlled by SoftBank Group Corp., a Japanese Corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.