If BlackBerry’s $1.4 billion buy of cybersecurity company Cylance (see 1811160024) goes through, “we will keep them as a separate business unit for sure,” said CEO John Chen on a Thursday earnings call. “That has been decided,” he said, though he hasn't decided on the organizational plan “going forward.” With the FTC having cleared the transaction with a Hart-Scott-Rodino early termination notice (see 1812130063), BlackBerry and Cylance await the comment and review period ending late January on the joint voluntary notice they filed at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., said Chen. He expects the deal will close “shortly after,” he said.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. cleared T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint, as expected (see 1812170019), the buyer said Monday. Meanwhile, Team Telecom, made up of DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security and DOD, officially withdrew its request to defer action on the deal, filing in FCC docket 18-197. “The Agencies have reviewed the information provided by the applicants and analyzed the measures undertaken by the applicants to address potential national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues,” the filing said. "We are a step closer to offering customers a supercharged disruptor that will create jobs from day one and deliver a real alternative to fixed broadband while delivering the first broad and deep nationwide 5G network for the United States,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere.

The FTC won't challenge BlackBerry's buy of Cylance and Cable One/Clearwave, said notices this week (see here and here). Both deals were announced last month (see 1811160024 and 1811130073).

The biggest coalition yet to oppose T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint has formed. The group calls itself the 4Competition Coalition. "Consumers deserve more competition from our wireless industry, not less," said Jeff Blum, Dish Network senior vice president-public policy and government affairs. "Sprint and T-Mobile have not shown that this merger as it is currently proposed will serve the public interest. Instead, they have admitted that consumer prices will rise.” The record “clearly demonstrates that this deal proposes an alarming increase in market concentration and will result in a dangerous oligopoly market structure,” said Ben Moncrief, C-Spire vice president-government relations. Other members are the AFL-CIO, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Fight for the Future, Greenlining Institute, New America's Open Technology Institute, NTCA, the Open Markets Institute, Public Knowledge, Rural Wireless Association and Writers Guild of America West. Sprint and T-Mobile didn’t comment.

The European Commission starting a Phase 2 review of Vodafone's buy of some Liberty Global businesses in Europe "is welcome and expected news," Liberty said Tuesday. It said it still expects regulatory approval by mid-2019. Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said it "always anticipated a second phase review given the size and scope of the transaction," and the body retaining regulatory authority over the case gives "the appropriate forum to demonstrate the consumer benefits that will be delivered." The EC said the review aims at ensuring Vodafone takeovers in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Romania "will not lead to higher prices, less choice and reduced innovation in telecoms and TV services for consumers." The $22.7 billion deal was announced in May (see 1805090005).

Cypress Semiconductor bought software and cloud services company Cirrent to expand its IoT solutions offerings, it said Thursday. Cirrent helps users “bring IoT products online quickly and keep them connected,” solving two of the biggest barriers to companies’ IoT growth, said Cypress CEO Hassane El-Khoury. Adding Cirrent allows Cypress to expand its software services revenue, and the company will bring on board Cirrent engineers, build on its scalable cloud platform and embrace its relationships with internet service providers and IoT product companies, El-Khoury said. Cirrent’s software lets users set up products without typing in passwords and ensures products stay connected even when network names and passwords are changed, it said. “As more companies develop business models and revenue streams enabled by connectivity, the increase in the connection rate from using Cirrent’s solution directly creates business value for customers.”

C Spire urged the FCC to reject T-Mobile buying Sprint, it said Monday in docket 18-197 on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. T-Mobile wrongly says C Spire made false claims about refusing to meet (see 1811200040), C Spire said. “Serious concerns about the negative competitive impacts of the Proposed Transaction have been exacerbated by the refusal of T-Mobile to meet with C Spire in the period since the Petition was filed." Rules don’t prevent the companies from negotiating agreements or settling differences, it said. T-Mobile is spreading a “false narrative that it has been a cooperative roaming partner,” said C Spire, saying it roams there only “because of the lack of a reasonable alternative in the respective geographic area, not because the T-Mobile offering is fair and competitive.” If the FCC OKs the deal, require fair and reasonable wholesale roaming and MVNO agreements, C Spire asked. T-Mobile didn't comment Tuesday.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson "suggested" he "would be supportive of approving" T-Mobile's planned buy of Sprint "with no conditions, but would not support one with conditions that empowered a new competitor like DISH or Cable," New Street Research analysts wrote investors Sunday, citing a discussion with him at an AT&T analyst day Thursday. The discussion took place after the webcast event, analyst Vivek Stalam told us Monday. Stephenson "noted that a large number of Democratic states’ attorneys general might oppose the deal or demand such a condition," the analysts wrote: "Interesting that he would express support in a way that would, if taken as evidence of the deal’s likely impact, undercut the odds of approval, but we don’t think the DOJ staff or others will take his comments as evidence. We do agree with him that the states’ attorneys general remain a risk but would add that some Republican states’ attorneys general, such as in Tennessee, are also apparently involved [in] state efforts to study and perhaps litigate to block the deal." AT&T didn't comment. The proposed transaction raises "considerable competitive harms ... with few, if any, countervailing, merger-related public interest benefits," filed the Communications Workers of America on meeting FCC staffers, including a 50-page presentation posted Monday in docket 18-197. CWA said the deal would result in "fewer jobs and higher prices" and "concentrate valuable spectrum in a combined T-Mobile/Sprint in almost two-thirds" of counties. T-Mobile and Sprint oppose a CWA motion seeking deal hearings at the New York Public Service Commission (see 1812030029).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is allotting a group of antitrust scholars, as amici curiae, 10 minutes for oral argument Thursday in the DOJ's appeal of a lower court's allowing AT&T's buy of Time Warner, said a docket 18-5214 order (in Pacer) posted Friday. Their participation was supported by Justice and opposed by appellee AT&T (see 1811260029). Appellant DOJ will get 20 minutes, and AT&T has 30 minutes, which it can share with supporting amici curiae, the court said. Separately, antitrust lawyer Joseph Alioto moved Saturday (see here, in Pacer) to file an amicus brief supporting DOJ, arguing that Supreme Court precedent established the Clayton Act prohibits acquisition of a significant rival in an industry trending toward concentration, so there needs to be immediate divestiture by TW. Alioto said by buying content company TW, AT&T is opting not to make investments in content it had planned to do before the deal, so AT&T is eliminated as a potential competitor in the content market. He said AT&T has started to pass on acquisition debt to consumers through increased prices. Alioto said his brief isn't opposed by DOJ but opposed by AT&T.

Legal challenges to Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal are weaker than in 2011, Free State Foundation academic adviser Ted Bolema wrote Thursday. Comcast has less leverage over rivals now as consumer choices expand and cord cutting accelerates. DOJ options are limited by agency skepticism of behavioral conditions, and action could lend credence to claims it's acting under pressure from President Donald Trump, Bolema said. The department didn't comment.