Dialog Semiconductor completed its transaction with Apple, signed in October (see 1810110041), to license power management technologies and transfer assets to the iPhone maker, it said Monday. More than 300 Dialog professionals will become Apple employees, and Dialog will receive $600 million in total: $300 million cash covering the transaction and $300 million for Dialog products to be delivered over three years. Dialog won new contracts from Apple for the development and supply of other mixed-signal integrated circuits, it said, accelerating the semiconductor company's transformation to a provider of differentiated custom and configurable mixed-signal integrated circuits across a broader customer base, it said. Dialog is moving to “the next phase of growth with a strategic focus on fast-growing segments" of the IoT, mobile, automotive and computing and storage markets, said CEO Jalal Bagherli, saying the agreement reaffirms Dialog’s “long-standing relationship" with Apple.

Federal regulators likely now have all the information they need to rule on T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint, New Street’s Blair Levin wrote investors Monday. “While this round may have been the final formal round, we expect to see a round of ex partes from both sides reflecting meetings with Commission staff to further elaborate on what they said and the weaknesses of the arguments of the others,” Levin said of the FCC. “We will be looking to see which side believes it has to provide more evidence to prevail.” Sprint’s claims it’s an ailing company that won’t thrive on its own is at odds with its financial reports, Dish Network filed Monday in docket 18-197. “The Commission should view Sprint’s financial and 5G claims in support of this merger with skepticism, given its own executives’ statements that Sprint is hardly an ailing firm, or one that needs a market-consolidating merger to launch a 5G network that is already underway.” Sprint didn’t comment.

The International Competition Network's Steering Group unanimously approved a multilateral framework for procedures among antitrust enforcement agencies worldwide to promote due process in competition law investigation and enforcement, said DOJ Friday. The document is based on the principles of the Antitrust Division’s Multilateral Framework on Procedures. The Antitrust Division, consulting with leading competition agencies from around the world, “developed the proposal, which was then introduced to the global antitrust community last fall and received overwhelming support,” DOJ said. “At the request of several partner agencies, the Antitrust Division agreed to implement the proposed arrangement through the International Competition Network to take advantage of existing structures and to reduce administrative burdens.”

Arris is now part of CommScope, with the telecom equipment provider announcing Thursday it closed on its $7.4 billion purchase of the consumer tech company. The deal was announced in November (see 1811080051). CommScope said the closing lets it provide more end-to-end communications solutions that neither it nor Arris could previously achieve independently.

The FCC restarted the 180-day informal shot clock on its review of T-Mobile buying Sprint Thursday, at day 122. It paused the shot clock in early March, seeking additional comment on new data from the companies (see 1903070045). The 4Competition Coalition said none of the late data submissions by the two carriers makes a bad deal better. The group said: “The evidence in the record is clear: None of these submissions change the reality that this merger would mean more concentration, less competition, and higher prices for millions of American consumers. As the shot clock resumes, we look forward to the completion of the thorough review process and, ultimately, the rejection of this merger.” Completion of the deal would mean more jobs, from the beginning, T-Mobile CEO John Legere blogged Thursday. “This merger is all about creating new, high-quality, high-paying jobs, and the New T-Mobile will be jobs-positive from Day One and every day thereafter. That’s not just a promise. That’s not just a commitment.” The combined company will create nearly 5,600 new American customer care jobs by 2021, he said: “New T-Mobile will employ 7,500+ more care professionals by 2024 than the standalone companies would have.” A top T-Mobile official expressed optimism Thursday. “We are very optimistic about the combination and its approval,” T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said at the CTIA 5G summit (see 1904040048). The two companies are “moving the ball up the field,” he said. “We are scoring big points.” T-Mobile and Sprint reached agreement with Hawaii’s consumer advocate to clear the path to state OK, the carriers and advocate told the Public Utilities Commission. In a letter posted Thursday, they urged the PUC to adopt parties’ stipulation and OK the deal before June 1, the expected end date of the FCC’s review. The carriers agreed to “strive to deliver” 5G coverage to 90 percent of its Hawaii points of presence within three to five years of the deal closing, and annually meet with the consumer advocate and PUC to review T-Mobile Form 477 data through 2024. The carriers also need state OKs from California and Pennsylvania.

Sprint CEO Michel Combes wrote FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to make his case for its takeover by T-Mobile, after their recent meeting. “Despite working hard in the past five years to transform Sprint, significant challenges continue to prevent us from thriving as a stand-alone company,” Combes said in docket 18-197, posted Tuesday. “We lack the spectrum assets, scale and financial resources needed to compete aggressively against the larger wireless companies.”

Because of evolving politics, MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett said T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint looks more likely to fail than be approved by DOJ and the FCC. Moffett cited the 16 states that appear poised to sue to block the deal. The politics matter, he told investors Tuesday: “If the DOJ and FCC approve the transaction, the approval would almost certainly be branded as both ‘Republican’ and ‘pro-business/anti-consumer.’” Moffett said he previously pegged approval as 50 percent likely. Moffett said the odds may be even lower than his revision down to 33 percent, but a lot of questions about the politics remain. Sprint's price has dropped from a high of $6.44, to $5.62 on Tuesday, indicating the market also is betting against approval, he said.

Cable One expects to close in Q4 on its $525.9 million cash acquisition of Missouri-based cable ISP Fidelity Communications, it said Monday. Fidelity's network passes roughly 190,000 homes in Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, it said.

C Spire slammed T-Mobile for failing to address complaints about its lack of backhaul in rural markets as it pushes forward on a buy of Sprint, in an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 18-197. “The only concrete information” T-Mobile has offered in response “pertains to the percentage of T-Mobile’s existing rural sites that have high speed backhaul ‘today,’” C Spire said: “This misses the point, perhaps intentionally. T- Mobile has a long record of providing inadequate coverage in rural America, instead having focused its buildout in and around major metropolitan areas.” T-Mobile responded March 11 that it has substantial high-speed backhaul capabilities for its rural facilities, and has concrete plans in place to further increase bandwidth to meet the performance requirements of the New T- Mobile network." Many details were redacted. Also Thursday, T-Mobile said it cut the ribbon at the Seattle Mariners’ stadium, which is now T-Mobile Park after the carrier bought the naming rights. T-Mobile filed at the FCC a blog by CEO John Legere. “How happy are you with your wireless service today?” Legere asks. “How about your cable or satellite service? Has it been getting better and cheaper lately? If you live in a rural community, do you feel like you have real choices for both mobile and broadband services? What about if you need support -- how is the customer service you get?”

ON Semiconductor agreed to buy Quantenna for $24.50 per share in an all-cash transaction with an equity value of $1.07 billion and an enterprise value of $963 million. The acquisition adds Quantenna’s Wi-Fi and software capabilities to ON’s connectivity portfolio and strengthens its position in industrial and automotive markets, it said. The transaction, expected to close in second-half 2019, requires approval of Quantenna’s stockholders but not ON’s, it said.