Sprint's Revived Push for T-Mobile Hurtles Toward Old US Foes

Masayoshi Son is taking another run at his dream to create a US mobile phone heavyweight, but a revived deal would be scrutinized by many of the same officials who batted down his last attempt. Staff attorneys inside the Justice Department’s antitrust division are likely to view any plans to merge his Sprint with T-Mobile US as a threat to competition in the mobile market, according to three people familiar with the staff’s thinking.

If they recommend to sue to block the deal, that would leave it to President Donald Trump’s new antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, to decide whether to fight the tie-up, or overrule them and approve it. If he decides to oppose a deal, the Justice Department would file a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block the proposed tie-up and would need to persuade a judge that the combination is anticompetitive. The antitrust chief isn’t obligated to follow the staff’s position, but typically has. Delrahim, who was confirmed to his post at the antitrust division Sept. 27, hasn’t commented publicly on how he views the mobile market.