T-Mobile and Sprint Make 5G, Other Concessions Including Selling Boost Mobile; Pai Would Back Deal
As T-Mobile and Sprint agreed to concessions to get their deal OK'd, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he'd recommend approving the deal. He would suggest commissioners greenlight the transaction, with an FCC release saying that "in the coming weeks," he will "present his colleagues with a draft order that would resolve this matter."
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One critic wasn't persuaded, nor was Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. She tweeted that she has "serious doubts." Commissioner Brendan Carr said he would support the deal, in a separate statement.
The companies' new steps include agreeing to divest Boost, Sprint's prepaid business. The company would retain Virgin Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. Pai said that "the companies have offered specific commitments regarding the rollout of an in-home broadband product, including to rural households."
The combining carriers said their network would cover at least two-thirds of the U.S. rural population with mid-band spectrum 5G. Their fifth-generation network would reach 97 percent of the country's people within three years of completing the deal and 99 percent within six. This is all according to Pai's statement Monday morning.
"The companies would suffer serious consequences if they fail to follow through on their commitments to the FCC," said Pai. "Consequences ... could include total payments to the U.S. Treasury of billions of dollars" and "create a powerful incentive for the companies to meet their commitments on time," he added.
The conditions in "yet another policy-by-press-release Pai statement would do nothing to alleviate the obvious harms of this deal," Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood emailed us. He fears the effect on the poor, people of color "and anyone seeking a better price" for wireless service.
The combining companies didn't comment right away on their new plans.