T-Mobile CEO: President Trump Has a 'Part in This Deal'
*By Alisha Haridasani*
In their third attempt at a merger in four years, T-Mobile and Sprint are appealing directly to the White House for approval of their $26.5 billion deal by emphasizing priorities that are important to President Trump and other lawmakers in Washington.
“We can show you, with specificity, that on day one there will be greater jobs, there will be lower prices, broader service, competition in rural America, broadband alternatives, and a 5G network that the nation doesn’t have,” said the T-Mobile CEO John Legere in an interview Monday with Cheddar’s Hope.
He also said that Trump has "a part in this deal," and that the latest tax cuts the administration pushed through add a "great amount of value in this deal."
The wireless networks announced their agreement to merge on Sunday; if the deal is approved by regulators, it will create the country's second-biggest wireless carrier with about 100 million subscribers. It would operate under the T-Mobile brand.
T-Mobile and Sprint's last plan to merge was scuttled in November 2017 after the Federal Communications Commission expressed concerns over decreased competition that could result from a smaller mobile market.
Verizon is the top wireless provider, with about 116 million customers through the end of last year, and AT&T is second with 93 million. T-Mobile, the third largest carrier with about 59 million customers, and Sprint, with 41 million, would become the new No. 2 carrier if the merger goes through.
The Sprint and T-Mobile chief executives have been touting the deal's potential to create jobs, boost competitiveness, and speed development of a 5G network vital to the country's digital infrastructure. Though these ambitions align with some of the Trump administration's priorities, some investors are still worried that those arguments may not convince federal regulators. Shares of Sprint and T-mobile were down at midday.
Wall Street's worries are exacerbated by the Justice Department’s legal battle to block a $85 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner.
“We’ve listened to FCC Commissioner Pai, who said from day one ‘I’m willing to look at a new transaction with an open mind,’ which is all we ask,” said the Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
Over 70 percent of Americans now own a smartphone and have broadband, according to [Pew Research](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/12/evolution-of-technology/), with increasing demands on carriers that offer unlimited data plans.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ceos-of-t-mobile-and-sprint-discuss-merger).
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
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William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
