T-Mobile and Sprint won in the courtroom this week when a judge rejected a state lawsuit that sought to block the carriers’ merger, but their deal isn’t quite done yet. A new report says that before the merger happens, Deutsche Telekom wants to renegotiate the terms of the deal.
It’s said that T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom wants a lower price for the deal because Sprint’s shares have been trading below the level they were at when the deal was first agreed upon in 2018. That’s according to Bloomberg sources who say that the renegotiation talks will likely start soon.
When T-Mobile and Sprint first announced their merger deal in April 2018, the deal was worth $26.5 billion. That merger agreement lapsed on November 1st, though. There have been talks about a new deal that T-Mobile CEO John Legere has described as “not hostile,” but no other details about the negotiations have been revealed.
It’ll be interesting to see where the price for the merger ends up after the renegotiation talks. Sprint’s churn has risen and average revenue per user has fallen since the original merger agreement was announced, but Sprint also has mid-band spectrum that T-Mobile wants for its 5G network, so each side will have some leverage in the talks.
T-Mobile said this week that it anticipates the merger to close as early as April 1, 2020. While a judge ruled in favor of T-Mobile and Sprint in a court case this week, the states that sued to block the merger could appeal that decision. The merger is also still being reviewed by the California Public Utilities Commission and the deal is subject to a Tunney Act review for any possible antitrust concerns.
Source: Bloomberg