Two of the nation’s four major wireless carriers are reportedly in merger talks — again.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported Tuesday that T-Mobile and Sprint were involved in preliminary discussions about combining the companies.
The report comes more than five months after their previous negotiations ended without a merger announcement.
Proponents of the long-sought merger argue a combined company, which would leapfrog AT&T to the No. 2 position in the market, would help both save billions in annual costs, the Journal noted.
Both sides were rumored to be near an agreement last year before Japanese tech giant — and Sprint controlling stakeholder — SoftBank Group balked about giving T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom control of the company.
Executives from each carrier were predictably bullish about going it alone after the talks collapsed, but neither company closed the door on future talks at the time.
Should the latest talks finally produce an agreement, it still remains unclear whether antitrust regulators would approve a deal to trim the domestic mobile sector from four major carriers to three.
The FCC last year said the current market included “effective competition,” and a report said Justice Department staff was unlikely to endorse a merger. The department is also suing to block a vertical merger between AT&T and cable operator Time Warner.
