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Last April, T-Mobile and Sprint announced their intention to merge. Yet a year later, neither the US Federal Communications Commission nor the Department of Justice had approved the agreement.
On Monday, T-Mobile and Sprint announced an extension to the $ 26.5-billion merger in a file filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The two companies will now have until July 29 to convince FCC and DOJ officials to approve the deal that would bring together the country's third and fourth largest telecommunications companies.
Makan Delrahim, who heads the Antitrust Division of the Ministry of Justice, said he had not yet decided to approve the agreement. "I did not make a decision," Delrahim told CNBC on Monday. "The investigation is continuing. We asked for data from future businesses. We do not have a defined number of meetings or schedules. "
Monday marked the first anniversary of the announcement of the merger. In anticipation of the date, the 4Competition Coalition (which brings together about two dozen consumer groups, including Fight for the Future, the Open Markets Institute and Communications Workers of America) issued a statement against the merger. "In the year since T-Mobile and Sprint announced their merger," they have not demonstrated that this agreement was in the public interest and in compliance with antitrust laws. "
The coalition continued: "Companies seem to believe that public relations and the media will bear fruit, but we believe that based on the facts and the law, this merger should be blocked."
T-Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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