The idea of two major carriers merging sounds like a pretty scary idea to regulators who might be worried about monopolistic behavior. However it seems that in the T-Mobile and Sprint deal, it looks like that deal could be one step closer to be approved because in a report from The Wall Street Journal, the deal is said to have been cleared by the US National Security Panel.
This clearance, if true, is by no means a guarantee that the deal will still go through successfully and unimpeded, but it is a step closer towards that direction. It was previously reported that T-Mobile and Sprint’s parent companies were planning on dropping Huawei as their equipment supplier, which apparently they believed could help with their chances with the US government and regulators approving their deal, but whether or not this is the reason for the clearance is unclear.
So far neither T-Mobile and Sprint have commented on the matter, so take it with a grain of salt for now. However it is still a pretty big deal. This is actually not the first time that T-Mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has tried to sell off the company. Previously they had attempted to merge with AT&T several years ago, but that deal was blocked. They later tried it with Sprint but that deal fell through, but was later revisited. There are still several hurdles that need clearing and it is unclear if or when the deal is expected to be officially concluded.