As some of you guys might have heard, T-Mobile and Sprint will be merging, or at least that’s the plan. Of course given the size of both companies and their roles in the market, safe to say that there is a lot that needs to be reviewed before the merger can officially go through, but unfortunately it seems that part of the process has been put on hold.In an announcement by the FCC (via 9to5Mac), the regulatory body has announced and confirmed that they will be hitting the pause button on their review of the merger. Previously there was a 180-day transaction shot clock that was counting down, and it seems that 55 days into that countdown the FCC now says that they will need more time.
According to the FCC, “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.” This is due to several changes and requirements that will require the FCC more time to review.
One of those requirements includes a submission by T-Mobile which they need to provide to the FCC on economic modeling that will support the merger. The FCC says, “The clock 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.”
It was previously expected that a decision could be made by the end of the year, but based on these changes it seems like we will most like hear a decision in 2019.