If it goes through, the deal is going to have a massive effect on the wireless industry in the US. A combined T-Mobile Sprint would have over 130 million subscribers, up there with Verizon and AT&T. It would change the competitive landscape massively: right now, AT&T and Verizon have the best networks and the most subscribers, and T-Mobile and Sprint are forced to use pricing and incentives to get customers onto their networks — something that’s created fierce competition, slashed prices, and unlimited data plans.
Assuming this merger goes through, you can kiss goodbye to all that. No Sprint means no downwards price pressure, which means that all three mobile carriers are likely to converge on the same pricing. Canada has a very similar mobile market, with three big carriers, nearly equal in size and quality of network. All three offer near-identical (and absurdly expensive!) plans, nearly $100 for a few gigabytes of data.
SYT Price at posting:
3.2¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
