The battle lines are being drawn in T-Mobile/Sprint merger

T-Mobile appears to be rallying former regulators and legislators to its side, while some congressional Democrats and some public interest groups are formulating their arguments against the deal. Sitting in the middle are the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice, which must sign off on the transaction. It’s unclear how those agencies might act on the deal: Although most observers see the Trump administration as favorable to big businesses, the DoJ filed a lawsuit against AT&T’s attempts to purchase Time Warner. Meantime, the FCC has allowed AT&T’s recent purchase of FiberTower and Verizon’s purchase of Straight Path, but in 2014 it moved against a Sprint and T-Mobile merger. It’s clear that Sprint and T-Mobile are doing whatever they can to rally support for the transaction.