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BUSINESS Monday 30 april 2018
A25

Sprint and T-Mobile agree to combine in $26.5 billion deal

By STAN CHOE and TALI AR- FCC in September deemed
BEL the wireless market “com-
AP Business Writers petitive” for the first time
NEW YORK (AP) — T-Mobile since 2009, which some
and Sprint reached a $26.5 analysts say could make it
billion agreement Sunday easier to present a deal.
to combine in a deal that The 5G aspirations are at
would reshape the U.S. the heart of the agree-
wireless landscape by re- ment, and the new tech-
ducing it to three major nology could allow com-
cellphone providers. panies to provide faster
The big unknown is whether service to peoples’ homes.
the deal will win approval Sprint’s Claure likened
from the Trump administra- going from 4G to 5G to
tion’s antitrust regulators. switching from black-and-
The two companies have white television to color.
been considering a combi- The combined company
nation for years, but a 2014 plans to invest up to $40 bil-
attempt fell apart amid re- lion in its network in the first
sistance from the Obama three years, which execu-
administration. tives said would drive more
Consumers worry a less hiring and better service for
crowded telecom field customers.
could result in higher pric- In this April 27, 2010 file photo, a woman using a cell phone walks past T-Mobile and Sprint stores Sprint has a lot of debt and
in New York.
es, while workers unions are Associated Press has posted a string of an-
concerned about poten- nual losses. It has cut costs
tial job losses. more employees follow- with AT&T and Verizon but the public. and made itself more at-
In a conference call with ing the combination, par- also with Comcast and oth- The companies said they tractive to customers, BTIG
Wall Street analysts, Sprint ticularly in rural areas, than ers as the wireless, broad- expect the deal to close Research analyst Walter
CEO Marcelo Claure ac- they do as stand-alone band and video industries by the first half of 2019 and Piecyk said, but it hasn’t
knowledged that getting companies. converge. would result in about $6 bil- invested enough in its net-
regulatory approval is “the They also emphasized that The all-stock deal values lion in annual cost savings. work and doesn’t have
elephant in the room,” and the deal would help accel- each share of Sprint at slight Investors have been an- enough airwave rights for
one of the first things the erate their development of more than 0.10 T-Mobile ticipating a deal like this for quality service in rural ar-
companies did after send- faster 5G wireless networks shares. Deutsche Telekom, some time. eas.
ing out the deal’s news re- and ensure that the U.S. T-Mobile’s parent, would Sprint dropped a bid for T-Mobile, meanwhile, has
lease was to call Ajit Pai, States doesn’t cede lead- own about 42 percent of T-Mobile more than three been on a yearslong streak
chairman of the Federal ership on the technology the combined company. years ago following con- of adding customers.
Communications Commis- to China. Japan’s SoftBank, which cerns by the Obama ad- After the government nixed
sion. And they said the combi- controls Sprint, would own ministration about wireless AT&T’s attempt to buy the
The companies stressed nation would allow them 27 percent, and the re- competition. The two were company in 2011, T-Mobile
that they plan to have to better compete not only mainder would be held by also poised to combine in led the way in many con-
October, but that deal was sumer-friendly changes,
Amazon raising price of annual called off, too. such as ditching two-year
The agreement will have to
contracts
bringing
and
Prime membership to $119 be reviewed by the Justice back unlimited data plans.
Department and the FCC.
paying
are
Consumers
National carriers had not
been able to get a deal less for cellphone service
thanks to T-Mobile’s influ-
By JOSEPH PISANI through under President
AP Retail Writer Barack Obama. But the ence on the industry and
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon the resulting price wars.q
is raising the price of its an-
nual Prime membership fee
to $119 a year, up 20 per-
cent from $99.
New Prime members in the
U.S. will be charged the
higher price starting May
11. The increase will ap-
ply to renewals of existing
memberships starting on
June 16. Besides free two-
day shipping, Prime mem-
bers get other perks, such This Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017, file photo, shows Amazon Prime
as access to Amazon’s Now bags are ready for delivery, at the Amazon warehouse in
video and music streaming New York.
services. The online retailer Associated Press
recently disclosed for the Thursday that the 20 per- pany raised the annual fee
first time that it had more cent hike is due to higher was four years ago.
than 100 million paid Prime costs to maintain the pro- Earlier this year, it increased
members worldwide. gram, such as shipping the monthly rate to $12.99
Amazon executives said fees. The last time the com- a month from $10.99.q