Now
that
they’ve
got
an
extra
$100
billion
worth
of
premium
airwaves
and
Sprint
no
longer
nipping
at
their
heels,
how
can
the
big
three
cellular
carriers
continue
to
consolidate
and
grow?
Well,
T-Mobile
and
Verizon
“are
in
discussions
to
carve
up
U.S.
Cellular,”
The
Wall
Street
Journal
reports.
The
report
suggests
this
is
about
harvesting
even
more
wireless
spectrum;
my
colleague
Allison
pointed
out
in
2022
that
US
Cellular
“tends
to
offer
service
where
some
of
the
major
carriers
don’t.”
(It
would
certainly
be
nice
for
T-Mobile
and
Verizon
customers
to
have
better
coverage,
but
I
would
prefer
competition
to
lower
my
wireless
bill.)
T-Mobile
would
reportedly
pay
over
$2
billion
for
wireless
spectrum
licenses
and
take
over
“some
operations;”
the
WSJ
doesn’t
say
what
Verizon
wants,
but
says
US
Cellular
“also
owns
more
than
4,000
cellular
towers
that
weren’t
part
of
the
latest
sale
talks.”
The
idea
behind
splitting
up
US
Cellular
between
T-Mobile
and
Verizon,
the
WSJ
suggests,
is
to
keep
antitrust
regulators
from
blocking
the
deal.
Regulators
wound
up
letting
T-Mobile
merge
with
Sprint
after
promises
that
it
would
turn
Dish
into
a
new
fourth
major
US
cellular
carrier,
but
last
we
checked,
Dish
had
yet
to
become
a
meaningful
competitor.
(Originally posted by Sean Hollister)
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