T-Mobile Owner Voices Doubt US Deal Would Be Approved

Deutsche Telekom’s chief executive officer said he doubts a merger of its T-Mobile US with Sprint could win regulatory approval anytime soon, pouring cold water on SoftBank’s ambitions to add to its holdings.

“We’re getting signals from the regulatory authority as well as antitrust supervisors that such a merger isn’t seen as expedient,” Timotheus Hoettges said. “Against that backdrop, we have to see how we can develop the business so it creates the most value for our shareholders.”

T-Mobile is boosting sales at the expense of earnings as Hoettges aims to build it into a more serious challenger to larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Communications. Sprint, the wireless provider controlled by Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank and the No. 3 operator in the US, plans to push forward with a bid for T-Mobile after meeting with banks to secure financing for an offer, people with knowledge of the situation said.

While T-Mobile added 2.4 million customers in the first quarter, more than AT&T and Verizon combined, Hoettges reiterated that a merger of the smaller wireless operators would make sense as unavoidable investments in spectrum and network upgrades would put them at a disadvantage to larger peers in the longer run.