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Justice Department will reportedly sue to block T-Mobile-Sprint merger if Dish deal isn’t done next week

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There’s been a lot of back and forth, will-they-or-won’t-they lately with T-Mobile, Sprint, and Dish Network’s negotiations related to the T-Mo-Sprint merger, but according to a new report, we may finally, finally be close to a resolution.

The Department of Justice will sue to block T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger if T-Mo, Sprint, Dish, and T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom don’t reach an agreement on their deal by next week. That’s according to CNBC, citing “people familiar with the negotiations”.

It’s said that there’s one major sticking point that’s holding up T-Mobile, Sprint, and Dish’s deal. Deutsche Telekom is concerned that if they allow Dish to use the new T-Mobile’s network while Dish builds out its own network, a cable company could come along and buy Dish and then use the T-Mobile network. DT wants Dish to be cut off from the T-Mobile network if it’s bought by a cable company, but the DOJ is reportedly unwilling to allow that.

This issue is reportedly the one thing that’s holding up a deal between T-Mobile, Sprint, and Dish. DT is said to be fine with Dish using T-Mobile’s network without restraint for three years while Dish builds out its own network.

Despite DT’s concerns about a Dish buying bought by a cable company, there is optimism that DT and T-Mobile will eventually agree to allow for cable company to buy Dish and continue using T-Mo’s network for a period of time.

Rumors have said that the DOJ wants a competitive fourth U.S. carrier before it’ll approve T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger. Dish has emerged as the most likely candidate to buy assets from T-Mo and Sprint, including Boost Mobile and spectrum, because Dish already has a sizable collection of spectrum of its own. Considering how far along T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger is, it does seem like DT and T-Mo would eventually agree to a deal with Dish to push the merger even close to the finish line, but we’ll have to wait until next week to find out.

Source: CNBC

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