CEO John Legere and others from T-Mobile argued for the company’s buy of Sprint in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-197. The executives said the company’s “world-leading 5G network will cover the country and deliver transformative services to all Americans, including those on prepaid and Lifeline plans.” They said "the massive capacity and lower costs of the network will result in lower prices for consumers and opportunities for MVNOs.” An accompanying presentation said without the transaction, in 2024, T-Mobile’s network will be “broad and thin,” Sprint’s “deep but narrow.” Together, the network will be “broad and deep.” The 4Competition Coalition, meanwhile, opposed the transaction in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “This merger would consolidate the nation’s wireless market from four to just three carriers, lead to price increases for virtually all wireless customers, substantially raise wholesale rates, and cause significant job losses -- all while failing to deliver the promised benefits of accelerated 5G deployment or expanded rural coverage,” the group said. Representatives of the Communications Workers of America, Consumer Reports, Dish Network, Incompas, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Next Century Cities and Writers Guild of America West attended. Legere blogged Wednesday that the new T-Mobile will be good for business customers, who haven’t benefited from changes in wireless pricing. “Two-year service contracts, bill shock, data buckets, overage penalties, and so many more punitive practices” are still common, Legere said. “Millions of businesses are still on a two-year service contract … and even more are still on limited data buckets. Worse, the Carriers’ pricing for businesses is still a secret, so you have no idea if you’re getting a good deal or getting screwed (pro tip: you’re probably getting screwed).”

Sprint will become the last of the four national wireless carriers to report Q1 results Tuesday. T-Mobile, which wants to buy Sprint, reported April 25 (see 1904250065). A likely focus is on subscriber losses, with analysts projecting net post-paid phone losses of 50,000, industry lawyers said. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Sprint told regulators a deal offering potential subscribers free cellphone lines made the carrier look healthier than it really is. Sprint didn’t comment. T-Mobile and Sprint reported on a meeting with the FCC transaction team reviewing the deal, to discuss T-Mobile’s in-home broadband service. By 2024, the new T-Mobile will “offer an attractively priced high-speed broadband option to millions of households with no access to or choice of broadband service today addressing a critical need,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-197. The representatives said the New T-Mobile network "will enable the merged company to offer in-home service in geographic areas where the network has capacity beyond that required to support mobile wireless customers.” Among those representing the companies was economist and ex-Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. New Street’s Blair Levin wrote investors Monday that nothing in recent FCC filings by T-Mobile and Sprint and opponents of the deal discuss conditions, which is likely a negative. “The discussion by the companies with the Chairman’s staff was on 5G deployments and in-home broadband competition,” Levin wrote: “Neither of these issues is likely to be relevant to the DOJ’s determination but both are arguably relevant to the FCC ‘public interest’ determination.”

Comcast closed on its buy of commercial Wi-Fi network company Deep Blue Communications, it said Wednesday. It said the addition of Deep Blue's managed Wi-Fi expertise should result in new offerings targeting such industries as hospitality and entertainment.

Attorney General William Barr recused himself from overseeing an eventual decision whether DOJ should block T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint, industry officials said Tuesday. In a December filing with the Office of Government Ethics, Barr reported holding a T-Mobile bond valued at up to $50,000 and other T-Mobile and Sprint bonds. Barr earlier recused himself from DOJ review of AT&T/Time Warner (see 1901110028). Justice didn’t comment.

U.S. antitrust authorities cleared the way for SoftBank Vision Fund to buy food delivery service Doordash, said an FTC early termination notice dated Monday and released Tuesday.

Altice agreed to buy news company Cheddar for $200 million, it said Tuesday. The acquisition adds Cheddar’s digital-first, live business, general news and college network, focused on young professional and millennial audiences. Cheddar networks are available on most U.S. over-the-top subscription services and in some 40 million pay-TV homes and on 600 campuses, and the company has social distribution across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat. Altice’s news coverage now will span hyperlocal, national, business and international content and reach a more diverse audience on digital and linear formats, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the next two months after regulatory approval.

U.S. antitrust authorities won't oppose Fidelity National Information Services' buy of payment systems company Worldpay, said an FTC early termination notice dated Friday. It posted Monday. The deal was worth about $40 billion.

Antitrust authorities cleared the way for ON Semiconductor to buy Wi-Fi solutions provider Quantenna Communications, said an FTC early termination notice dated Monday and released Tuesday, ending the $1.07 billion deal's Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period. ON announced the transaction last month, saying it would enable the combined company to enter the automotive and industrial low-power connectivity market.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure met with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel about T-Mobile's buy of Sprint, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-197. The executives “described the affirmative case for the transaction and responded to questions,” the companies said. New Street’s Blair Levin told investors the deal is unlikely to be approved as-is. “Staffs at the DOJ and FCC have significant concerns about the deal on a number of traditional antitrust type issues, including on the claims of efficiencies, potential price increases, and the impact on competition in the next several years,” he said. T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray also attended, and blogged Monday about the deal (see 1904220040).

T-Mobile told the FCC that only porting data raises questions on the effect of its Sprint buy on competitiveness. The filing, posted Monday in docket 18-197, includes a white paper by T-Mobile counsel, with most of the numbers redacted. “The White Paper demonstrates that utilizing any data that reflects a reasonably representative sample of customers leads to the conclusion that the merger is pro-competitive each and every year from approval through 2024,” T-Mobile said. “Porting data which Applicants have demonstrated to be not representative are the only one of the many sources that leads to a contrary result.” T-Mobile made three other confidential filings Monday, the docket shows. MVNO Altice argued against the deal in meetings on Wednesday with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks and the T-Mobile/Sprint transaction team. “The proposed merger will reduce, not increase, incentives for the New T-Mobile to invest in 5G” and “will eliminate incentives for the New T-Mobile to provide wholesale service to infrastructure mobile virtual network operators, such as Altice, thus precluding increased retail competition,” Altice said. President Donald Trump’s pro-5G announcements Friday (see 1904120065) likely don’t speak to administration support for the deal, New Street’s Blair Levin told investors. Trump “is not a subtle guy,” Levin said. “If he wanted to support (or block) the deal, we suspect he would say so publicly.” DOJ’s Antitrust Division also isn’t looking at U.S. competitiveness versus China on 5G, he said. “One way to read the President’s statement is that he believes America should give him credit for already doing everything that needs to be done to assure American leadership; therefore the deal is not relevant to his accomplishment,” Levin said. “It is possible that the leadership at the DOJ and FCC could read his statements to think he wants the deal approved but we don’t think that is the best read.”