T-Mobile and Sprint have had to offer to sell the latter’s Boost prepaid brand if they are to get an approval of their pending merger. This has been set as one of the conditions before the long sought after merger between the third and fourth largest mobile carriers in the country can proceed. According to a new report, T-Mobile and Sprint are likely to offload Boost Mobile for a value of up to $3 billion.
Reuters hears from interested buyers that Boost Mobile could be valued at up to $3 billion by T-Mobile and Sprint. The two carriers had to offer concessions to the Federal Communications Commission in order to win an approval from the regulatory for their $26 billion merger.
The concessions include the sale of Boost Mobile in order to reduce the combined entity’s market share in the prepaid segment. The deal is still awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Department of Justice but parties interested in Boost Mobile have reportedly started to prepare bids already. The sale process may only begin after the Justice Department’s review, though.
Prepaid brand Q Link Wireless is believed to have put together a bid for Boost that could range between $1.8 billion to $3 billion, according to Chief Executive Issa Asad. The bid price will depend on the quality of the prepaid brand’s customers, the rate of cancellations, the devices they are using, among other factors. Boost Mobile is estimated to have between 7 million to 8 million customers. Sprint has so far not disclosed the true figure of Boost customers.