Communications Industry: German owned T-Mobile to acquire Sprint Corp in $26 billion deal

Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile US agreed on Sunday to buy out Sprint Corp for $26 billion (€21.4 billion).

If approved, the deal will combine the third and fourth largest US wireless carriers, bringing competition down to three major cellphone companies.

Some of the specifics of the deal include: 

• The two companies expect to complete their deal by the first half of 2019.
• Deutsche Telekom, which controls T-Mobile, will own 42 percent of the combined company, and will control the board, nominating nine of the 14 directors.
• The proposed all-stock deal values Sprint, owned by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, at about $59 billion and the combined company at $146 billion, including debt.
• The transaction is at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.10256 T-Mobile shares for each Sprint share, or the equivalent of 9.75 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile US share. 

 
Read more; German owned T-Mobile to acquire Sprint Corp in $26 billion deal | News | DW | 29.04

Wireless Phone Industry: : French company Iliad wants to buy T-Mobile and ruin Sprint's grand plan - by Chris Welch

Wireless Phone Industry

We may soon see a bidding war for T-Mobile. French telecom company Iliad has put in a $15 billion, all-cash bid for the company that would give it a controlling stake of 56.6 percent.

The news throws a huge wrench into the months-long narrative that Sprint is preparing to buy its smaller competitor. T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom and Sprint have already reached a tentative agreement that would ultimately combine the third and fourth place US carriers, according to previous reports.

But Iliad gives T-Mobile another path in taking the fight to its rivals. The Wall Street Journal first reported Iliad's interest in T-Mobile on Thursday afternoon.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere has never publicly confirmed any deal with Sprint, a point he underlined during today's financial earnings call. Such an acquisition would face intense scrutiny from federal regulators; AT&T's attempt to buy T-Mobile was rebuffed over concerns that it would irreparably harm competition in the US wireless industry, and Sprint will have to contend with the very same argument if it moves forward. Iliad seems to think its odds are better since it currently has no presence whatsoever in the United States.

Read more: French company Iliad wants to buy T-Mobile and ruin Sprint's grand plan | The Verge

Sprint, SoftBank reach US security deal to curb Chinese infiltration of national and corporate infrastructures

Ahead of SoftBank's takeover of Sprint, the companies have agreed to allow U.S. authorities the power to regulate Sprint's national security protocols.

For $20.1 billion, Sprint agreed to give Japanese carrier SoftBank a 70 percent stake in the U.S. carrier. According to Reuters sources, in order to have the deal pushed through, SoftBank has agreed to give U.S. authorities power on Sprint's board to oversee national security concerns.

If the plan to merge the two companies goes ahead, the U.S. government will be able to veto new equipment purchases made by Sprint. The demand has been made in light of the recent scrutiny given to foreign networking equipment -- especially when manufactured in China -- which has the potential to threaten national and company infrastructure.

Chinese telecoms manufacturers Huawei and ZTE have come under particular scrutiny. Not only have the companies been accused of anti-competitive behavior and flooding European markets by the European Commission, but last year, the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee warned U.S. businesses to avoid using their products due to cybersecurity worries.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has agreed to strip out equipment made by ZTE from Sprint networks if required. Removing and replacing these components could cost the firm up to $1 billion.

In addition, the U.S. government will be permitted to establish a four-member supervision committee "to make sure the companies abide by their national security promises." A Sprint board member will also be present on this panel.

Read more: Sprint, SoftBank reach US security deal | ZDNet