09-12-2018, 07:13 AM
FCC pauses review of Sprint and T-Mobile merger
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<p class="gray small byline"> By <a href="mailto
[email protected]">Stephen Silver</a> <br /><span class="gray">Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 07:50 pm PT (10:50 pm ET)</span> </p>
<p> <span><span class="article-leader">Government stops the “shot clock” on the merger’s review period, in order to take a look at modeling. <br /></span></p>
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<div class="article-img"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fcc-pauses-review-of-sprint-and-t-mobile-merger.jpg" alt="T-Mobile's John Legere" height="438" class="lazy" /><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fcc-pauses-review-of-sprint-and-t-mobile-merger-1.jpg" /></div>
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<p>The Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to Sprint and T-Mobile Tuesday informing the carriers that it’s pausing the current review of their merger. </p>
<p>“Today we are pausing the Commission’s informal 180-day transaction shot clock in this proceeding. Additional time is necessary to allow for thorough staff and third-party review of newly submitted and anticipated modeling relied on by the Applicants,” <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-354053A1.pdf">said the letter</a>, signed by David B. Lawrence, head of the T-Mobile/Sprint Transaction Task Force, and Donald Stockdale Chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.</p>
<p>The new facts requiring review include a revised network engineering model submitted by the parties in early September, the mentioning in a meeting of a T-Mobile business model called “Build 9,” which was not reviewed by the FCC until recently and T-Mobile’s recent disclosure that it “intends to submit additional economic modeling in support of the Applications, beyond that strictly responsive to the various economic analyses in the Petitions to Deny.”</p>
<p>The 180-day clock, the FCC letter said, “will remain stopped until the Applicants have completed the record on which they intend to rely and a reasonable period of time has passed for.staff and third-party review. The Commission will decide whether to extend the deadline for reply comments after receiving the remainder of the Applicants’ modeling submissions.” </p>
<p>Sprint and T-Mobile announced in April that <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/29/sprint-and-t-mobile-agree-to-all-stock-merger-deal-worth-26-billion">they had agreed to an all-stock merger worth $26 billion</a>, with T-Mobile CEO John Legere to assume leadership of the combined company, to be called “New T-Mobile.” The companies <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/19/sprint-t-mobile-merger-will-generate-5g-powerhouse-cut-costs-for-users">submitted their formal merger request to the FCC in June</a>, in which they vowed to “deliver a robust, nationwide world-class 5G network and services sooner than otherwise possible.”</p>
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<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fcc-pauses-review-of-sprint-and-t-mobile-merger.jpg" width="1" height="1" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p><!-- font size selector, BEGIN --> <span class="cfix"> </span> </p>
<p class="gray small byline"> By <a href="mailto
[email protected]">Stephen Silver</a> <br /><span class="gray">Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 07:50 pm PT (10:50 pm ET)</span> </p><p> <span><span class="article-leader">Government stops the “shot clock” on the merger’s review period, in order to take a look at modeling. <br /></span></p>
<div align="center">
<div class="article-img"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fcc-pauses-review-of-sprint-and-t-mobile-merger.jpg" alt="T-Mobile's John Legere" height="438" class="lazy" /><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fcc-pauses-review-of-sprint-and-t-mobile-merger-1.jpg" /></div>
<p><span class="minor2 small gray"></span></div>
<p>The Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to Sprint and T-Mobile Tuesday informing the carriers that it’s pausing the current review of their merger. </p>
<p>“Today we are pausing the Commission’s informal 180-day transaction shot clock in this proceeding. Additional time is necessary to allow for thorough staff and third-party review of newly submitted and anticipated modeling relied on by the Applicants,” <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-354053A1.pdf">said the letter</a>, signed by David B. Lawrence, head of the T-Mobile/Sprint Transaction Task Force, and Donald Stockdale Chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.</p>
<p>The new facts requiring review include a revised network engineering model submitted by the parties in early September, the mentioning in a meeting of a T-Mobile business model called “Build 9,” which was not reviewed by the FCC until recently and T-Mobile’s recent disclosure that it “intends to submit additional economic modeling in support of the Applications, beyond that strictly responsive to the various economic analyses in the Petitions to Deny.”</p>
<p>The 180-day clock, the FCC letter said, “will remain stopped until the Applicants have completed the record on which they intend to rely and a reasonable period of time has passed for.staff and third-party review. The Commission will decide whether to extend the deadline for reply comments after receiving the remainder of the Applicants’ modeling submissions.” </p>
<p>Sprint and T-Mobile announced in April that <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/29/sprint-and-t-mobile-agree-to-all-stock-merger-deal-worth-26-billion">they had agreed to an all-stock merger worth $26 billion</a>, with T-Mobile CEO John Legere to assume leadership of the combined company, to be called “New T-Mobile.” The companies <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/19/sprint-t-mobile-merger-will-generate-5g-powerhouse-cut-costs-for-users">submitted their formal merger request to the FCC in June</a>, in which they vowed to “deliver a robust, nationwide world-class 5G network and services sooner than otherwise possible.”</p>
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