If you're a customer with Sprint or T-Mobile, this potential merger could mean that you will likely be seeing some major changes.
Although the plan has been bounced back and forth for a long time now, it seems that T-Mobile and Sprint could be that much closer to a merger, Bloomberg reports.
Deutsche Telekom — which controls T-Mobile — has begun to make strides in its plans for the merger. The company reportedly wants an all-stock deal with Sprint in order to continue to apply T-Mobile’s current marketing strategy after the two carriers are combined, German newspaper Handelsblatt reports.
When the merger was rumored months ago, SoftBank — Sprint’s parent company — reportedly had not pushed the subject due to strict U.S. Federal Communications Commission rules prohibiting rival carriers from conspiring during airwave auctions.
Now, the report claims that final measures are being put in place to complete the merger and the all-stock agreement would eliminate transaction costs with a deal like this because both companies would be exchanging stock rather than actual money.
This news also comes right after Sprint introduced its new promotion to encourage customers to ditch their current carriers. Those who switched to Sprint would receive unlimited data for up to five lines for free — making it clear that the carrier might be in trouble.
Sprint has consistently been playing catch-up with its rival carriers — AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Last year OpenSignal reported the carrier took last place in all categories ranging from speed to latency. On the other hand, T-Mobile had an increase in 4G coverage at 81.2 percent — which was neck and neck with AT&T at 82.6 percent — trailing closely behind Verizon. Sprint came in last, yet again, at 70 percent.
T-Mobile has been making efforts to improve its service across the board after having rolled out LTE on the 700MHZ spectrum. The OpenSignal report also measured LTE speeds in 11 of the biggest metro areas where T-Mobile won in four cities — placing it ahead of Verizon’s three — but the two carriers tied in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Although Verizon still remains champion when it comes to coverage nationwide and reliability, T-Mobile is clearly working to toward getting ahead. If Sprint has any last chances of survival, merging with T-Mobile could potentially create a carrier stronger than its revivals.