Charter Communications is selling its managed cloud services business Navisite to RDX, it said Monday. The move is part of "prioritization and refinement" of its portfolio. The deal is expected to close within weeks.

The agreement DOJ extracted from T-Mobile/Sprint to sell off key assets to Dish Network so it can build a fourth national wireless network (see 1907260071) likely won’t work as planned, said John Kwoka, American Antitrust Institute senior fellow. The new T-Mobile has big advantages over Dish, Kwoka wrote Wednesday: “The merged firm has advantages in terms of information, control of assets, and pretextual excuses for what may appear to be non-compliance. It also has strong incentives not to aid its direct rival and make it into a more effective constraint on its own market position.” The settlement “fails the test of plausibly and predictably preserving competition in the U.S. wireless market,” he said: “It is anything but certain that Dish can successfully make itself into the fourth carrier that otherwise will disappear. Even if it does, it will be years before that happens.” Justice didn’t comment.

Eight Democratic senators asked the FCC to issue a public notice and seek comment on T-Mobile buying Sprint as laid out in the DOJ consent decree (see 1907260071), though the FCC doesn't seem so inclined. Louisiana, meanwhile, joined states supporting the deal. In a letter Friday to Chairman Ajit Pai, the senators said they have significant competition concerns about the deal and the consent decree terms "may prove insufficient to protect competition, innovation, and the public interest." They noted the decree then had Dish Network asking the FCC for construction deadline extensions. They said the FCC's merger review process wasn't transparent, with Pai voicing support for the deal weeks before knowing of the consent decree terms. The senators said Dish's planned 5G deployment as part of its Boost acquisition is a major part of T-Mobile/Sprint that the public hasn't had a chance to address. Presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York signed, along with fellow Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Tom Udall of New Mexico and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. The FCC doesn't seem so inclined. It emailed us that T-Mobile/Sprint "has been pending in front of the Commission for more than a year, and there have been multiple public comment cycles. Moreover, the commitments offered by T-Mobile and Sprint to the Commission have been public since May, and many parties have submitted comments about them. The time has come for Commissioners to vote and for this proceeding to be brought to a close.” Announcing Louisiana's support for the deal, state Attorney General Jeff Landry noted T-Mobile's aims of providing coverage to 90 percent of rural America and offering residential broadband to more than 5.5 million rural Americans. “Louisiana citizens living in rural communities deserve meaningful competition and reliable service,” he said. Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota backed the consent decree, while about a dozen states are suing to block T-Mobile/Sprint.

Oregon joined 15 other state attorneys general suing to stop T-Mobile from buying Sprint. “If left unchallenged, the current plan will result in reduced access to affordable wireless service in Oregon -- and higher prices,” Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum (D) said Monday in a New York AG news release. The 16 states have nearly half the U.S. population, said New York AG Letitia James (D). T-Mobile didn’t comment. Earlier this month, Texas AG Ken Paxton became the first Republican to join (see 1908050029). T-Mobile/Sprint told the FCC there's no reason to further delay the agency's order approving their deal. The Rural Wireless Association and NTCA (see 1908070059) and the Wireless ISP Association asked the FCC last week to seek additional comment. “Petitioners have articulated no credible basis that could plausibly justify yet another delay in Commission action in this proceeding,” T-Mobile and Sprint filed, posted Monday in docket 18-197. “License transfer applications associated with the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint were filed on June 18, 2018.”

Salesforce is acquiring ClickSoftware for $1.35 billion, said the buyer Wednesday. The deal is expected to close by Oct. 31, it said. “Our acquisition of ClickSoftware will not only accelerate the growth of Service Cloud, but drive further innovation with Field Service Lightning to better meet the needs of our customers,” said Bill Patterson, executive vice president-Salesforce Service Cloud.

T-Mobile/Sprint suffered two blows last week, with the trial of the case against the deal shifted to start Dec. 9 and Texas joining the case. Both could prove harmful to completing the deal, analysts said. The Texas attorney general is the first Republican to join the suit in New York. “With the trial now likely to start on December 9 and last two to three weeks, and with writing the decision likely to take four to six weeks (plus a little extra time due to the holidays), we do not expect a trial court decision until late January or early February,” said New Street’s Blair Levin in a note to investors. The delay hurts Dish Network and Sprint more than T-Mobile, he said: “T-Mobile is full steam ahead executing on its plans and, doing well while doing so.” Texas AG Ken Paxton's joining the case “clearly creates better political optics for the states and increases the odds that other states, particularly Republican controlled states, will join,” Levin said. “Ultimately we are dubious it really affects the outcome of a trial -- Texas joining does not change the law, the precedent, or the facts to be tried -- but it does give the states less motive to settle.” After the “euphoria” over the settlement with DOJ (see 1907260021) T-Mobile got “two pretty big blows,” wrote Well Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche: “Put another way, if settlement does not come before hand we could be in our winter boots and mittens when we get resolution.” Dec. 9 “will represent 589 days from when the deal was originally announced,” she said.

NTCA and the Rural Wireless Association asked the FCC to seek comment on the DOJ-supported buy of Sprint by T-Mobile and the sale of assets to Dish Network. “The proposed merger is now a completely different arrangement than what is currently before the Commission,” said a request, posted Monday in docket 18-197. The agreement with DOJ “relies on the highly questionable assumption that the harm to competition recognized by DOJ that would result from the loss of Sprint from the nationwide mobile wireless marketplace would be offset by the competitive impact of the Dish acquisition of assets that would supposedly result in Dish becoming a fourth facilities-based nationwide mobile wireless competitor with sufficient strength to prevent the substantial competitive harms that would result from the exit of Sprint,” it said. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks earlier tweeted that the FCC should seek comment on the new arrangement (see 1907260071).

Sprint and T-Mobile have very different strengths that should play together well if they’re allowed to combine, said Kathryn Weldon, technology analyst at GlobalData, in a report Wednesday. T-Mobile’s culture “is certainly unique -- it has been a marketing powerhouse, gaining consumer subscribers every quarter and rarely letting up its momentum, with new benefits, services, promotions and ‘freebies,’” Weldon said: “Sprint knows much more about the business market, especially the mid-market and large enterprise segments. It deserves to lead the business services group within the new company and follow its plans for converged wireline wireless sales.”

“The primary purpose" of the proposed final judgment on T-Mobile/Sprint "is to facilitate DISH building and operating its own mobile wireless services network by combining the Divestiture Package of assets and other relief with DISH’s existing mobile wireless assets, including substantial and currently unused spectrum holdings, to enable it to compete in the marketplace,” DOJ said in a competitive impact statement it filed as it seeks final judgment by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, approving its settlement (see 1907260071). The DOJ pleading posted Wednesday said: “The proposed Final Judgment thus obligates DISH to build out its own mobile wireless services network and offer retail mobile wireless service to American consumers.” DOJ said without remediation the combination of the two carriers would be harmful to competition in the U.S. wireless market: “The combination of T-Mobile and Sprint would eliminate head-to-head competition between the companies and threaten the benefits that customers have realized from that competition in the form of lower prices and better service. The merger would also leave the market vulnerable to increased coordination among the remaining three carriers.”

Comments by MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett, on T-Mobile possibly selling some assets to Dish Network as part of buying Sprint, were incorrectly attributed to New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin (see 1907240062).