Outgoing T-Mobile CEO John Legere has made a central focus of his time in the corner office at the so-called Un-carrier be all the things that people hate rival carriers for, and then making a big show of doing (or appearing to do) the opposite. Blasting its opponents for the hidden fees that lard up customer bills, stuffing tons of perks into monthly plans and packages for customers and taking as many swipes as possible at Big Telecom — these and more have all been hallmarks of T-Mobile’s bold, brash, Twitter-loving chief executive.
So why in God’s name is T-Mobile reportedly considering a merger with Comcast, one of the most anti-consumer members of Corporate America today?
This news comes via internal T-Mobile documents obtained by The Verge which show that, separate from the pending merger with Sprint, T-Mobile also apparently has the urge to merge with a cable company (So it just, you know, apparently went ahead and zeroed in on the worst one).
Per The Verge, the documentation reveals that this would be a post-Sprint deal, with T-Mobile drawing a line underneath its momentous, hard-fought, and long-pending team-up with Sprint by moving on to a cable company next — with Comcast as the likely prospect. We say “prospect” instead of target, because it’s not clear at this point if T-Mobile would the acquirer or the acquiree. At one point, the report notes that: “Move into mobile might be the only natural option for Comcast to grow, as preferred Comcast moves (i.e. wireline and content) are unlikely to get regulatory approval.” While a merger with T-Mobile would likely present “no significant regulatory barriers.”
Meantime, the merger with Sprint still needs to be wrapped up.
Federal regulators have blessed the deal, which is still being held by state officials who are suing to block it. On Friday, though, the Federal Communications Commission and US Dept. of Justice jointly submitted a filing in the case that insisted any action that holds up the merger would result in “substantial, long-term, and procompetitive benefits for American consumers.”
