Sprint Starts Merger Talks With T-Mobile

According to unnamed sources who are familiar with the matter, Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. are not in preliminary conversations regarding a merger.

The people, who are unidentified as these talks are still private, have said that Sprint as well as executives from both SoftBank Group Corp., which is Sprint’s largest shareholder, have begun informal discussions with Deutsche Telekom AG about a transaction.

It was just on April 27th that telecom companies involved in the government spectrum auction could begin to discuss negotiation deals again. Participants in the auction had been prohibited from doing so until now.
Both Tim Hoettges, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom, and Masayoshi Son, the Chairman of Softbank, have said they are open to consolidation talks.

Everything is still very informal and no banks have been involved yet, but the market is now watching closely. Of course a transaction won’t be easy either, as regulators have been very strict and President Trump’s administration hasn’t been favorable towards telecommunications mergers.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Sprint Corp (NYSE: S) nor T-Mobile US Rg (NASDAQ: TMUS) and have not been compensated for this article.