Nov 19, 2019

Boost Mobile founder wants to buy back company from Sprint

A Sprint on store on 14th Street in Manhattan. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton said he wants to buy back the company, which Sprint is selling per an agreement to secure regulatory approval of its merger with T-Mobile US.

Why it matters: Adderton says he's willing to pay up to $2 billion for Boost, a rich premium to the $1.4 billion that Sprint agreed to sell its entire prepaid wireless unit for to Dish Network. No word yet on how he'd finance such a bid.

Bonus: After selling Boost in 2004, Adderton founded an MVNO called Amp'd Mobile, which raised over $370 million before going under. Not an extraordinary amount of funding by today's standards but, at the time, it led several VC news cycles.

The bottom line: "Adderton has been outspoken that the [Sprint/T-Mobile] combination would harm lower-income consumers who depend on prepaid phones... [and] has also questioned Dish’s commitment to serving Boost customers, as the satellite company has focused its priorities on building a next generation 5G wireless network." — Sheila Dang, Reuters

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Ina Fried

T-Mobile's fight for Sprint deal goes to court

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

The success of T-Mobile's long-fought-for bid to acquire Sprint is about to come down to whether a federal judge believes that the deal will boost or harm competition.

Why it matters: The FCC has approved the deal and the Justice Department has settled with the companies, leaving this case, in which 14 state attorneys general have sued to block the merger, as the primary remaining obstacle.

Go deeperDec 9, 2019

Ina Fried

Texas and Nevada exit T-Mobile-Sprint lawsuit

Photo: ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images

Nevada and Texas announced Monday they are dropping out of the suit that seeks to block T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint. Texas said it got a number of commitments, including an agreement not to raise rates for 5 years and to ensure the state's rural areas have 5G coverage.

Why it matters: The lawsuit from the states is the main remaining hurdle to the deal's closure. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was the only Republican seeking to block the deal.

Go deeperNov 26, 2019

Ina Fried

T-Mobile launches nationwide 5G

Photo Illustration: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

T-Mobile is officially debuting its nationwide 5G service today using its 600 MHz spectrum.

Why it matters: The move allows T-Mobile to claim the broadest 5G coverage, even if that frequency doesn't give the kind of ultra-fast speeds possible using millimeter wave frequencies.

Go deeperDec 2, 2019