U.S. Senate committee sets date for hearing on T-Mobile-Sprint merger

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T-Mobile and Sprint may have struck a merger deal, but the agreement will need regulatory approval before it’s allowed to happen. Part of that process will happen next month.

A U.S. Senate committee will hold a hearing on T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger on June 27th. Officials have told Reuters that it’s likely that T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure will testify.

The hearing was announced by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the former being the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcomittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights and the latter being a ranking member of that subcommittee. Here’s what Lee had to say about the hearing:

“Few industries touch Americans’ daily lives as much as the wireless market. As Chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee, I want to make sure that the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint benefits consumers in a manner consistent with existing antitrust law.”

And here’s Klobuchar’s statement:

“The combination of T-Mobile and Sprint raises serious antitrust issues. Competition among the four largest cell phone carriers has led to lower prices, better service and more innovation. That’s why it’s critically important that we hold a hearing to ask serious questions about how this consolidation could affect American consumers.”

Legere and Claure recently met with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FCC to talk up their merger, but the deal will undergo quite a bit more regulatory scrutiny in the coming months. T-Mobile and Sprint have said that they expect their deal to close no later than the first half of 2019.

Sources: Reuters, Sen. Mike Lee

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