May 20, 2019

FCC chairman will recommend approval of T-Mobile, Sprint deal

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday morning that he would recommend the agency approve the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint.

Why it matters: The deal, which also requires federal approval from the Department of Justice, would reduce the number of national wireless carriers from 4 to 3. The FCC's announcement comes after the companies promised to divest Sprint's prepaid wireless brand, among other pledges, according to Pai.

What they're saying: "I believe that this transaction is in the public interest and intend to recommend to my colleagues that the FCC approve it," said Pai. "This is a unique opportunity to speed up the deployment of 5G throughout the United States and bring much faster mobile broadband to rural Americans."

Pai needs two votes in addition to his own for the deal to gain the agency's blessing.
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said he would support the deal, while Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel said that she had "serious doubts" about it.

Details:

T-Mobile and Sprint have agreed to divest Boost Mobile, Sprint's prepaid wireless offering, as well as other commitments related to building out its 5G wireless network.
That comes on top of an earlier commitment not to raise prices for three years.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to comment. The agency's review of the deal is ongoing.

A senior FCC official told reporters that its announcement was timed to the conclusion of its review, and that the DOJ and the FCC didn't always announce their decisions on deals at the same time.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with more details.

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Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now infected over 142,000 people in the U.S. — more than any other country in the world, per Johns Hopkins data.

The big picture: COVID-19 had killed over 2,400 people in the U.S. by Sunday night. That's far fewer than in Italy, where over 10,000 people have died — accounting for a third of the global death toll. The number of people who've recovered from the virus in the U.S. exceeded 2,600 Sunday evening.

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Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 721,584 — Total deaths: 33,958 — Total recoveries: 149,122.
U.S.: Leads the world in cases. Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 142,106 — Total deaths: 2,479 — Total recoveries: 2,686.
Federal government latest: President Trump says his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30.
Public health updates: Fauci says 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from virus.
State updates: Louisiana governor says state is on track to exceed ventilator capacity by end of this week — Cuomo says Trump's mandatory quarantine comments "panicked" some people into fleeing New York
World updates: Italy on Sunday reports 756 new deaths, bringing its total 10,779. Spain reports almost 840 dead, another new daily record that bring its total to over 6,500.
What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk
Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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