Oliver Haslam·

It’s Official: T-Mobile Buys Sprint For $26B, Announces Merger And 5G Plans

The already small cell phone carrier market in the United States took a step towards becoming even smaller today, with Sprint and T-Mobile announcing that they will be merging, with a new press release being sent out by the newly formed company.

Assuming the deal makes its way through the usual regulatory approval systems then there will be just three major carriers in the United States, down from the four that existed yesterday.

The combined company will carry the name T-Mobile and will be headed by existing T-Mobile top dog John Legere, meaning Sprint will essentially cease to exist. T-Mobile says that once the two firms are made one it will be able to fund the network capacity improvements needed to be able to boast the first nationwide 5G network.

The company took the opportunity to take a swipe at both AT&T and Verizon when pointing how much quicker than both companies it was able to get 4G rolled out. Furthermore, the new company is confident that not only will it continue to beta both firms to the punch but also do it by some margin.

T-Mobile US (NASDAQ: TMUS) and Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.10256 T-Mobile shares for each Sprint share or the equivalent of 9.75 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile US share.

While mergers tend to also come with job losses, T-Mobile claims that the move will actually see thousands of new jobs created, something that may be hard to reconcile for those of us who have seen similar mergers decimate workforces.

T-Mobile’s press release claims 200,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the United States initially, with that number increasing to a mind boggling three million once 5G is rolled out.

The combined company will have lower costs, greater economies of scale, and the resources to provide U.S. consumers and businesses with lower prices, better quality, unmatched value, and greater competition. The New T-Mobile will employ more people than both companies separately and create thousands of new American jobs.

For now we will just have to take T-Mobile at its word, but we’re also taking it with a giant pinch of salt. Prove us wrong, T-Mobile. Please.

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