Concerns grow over Verizon’s acquisition of TracFone

TracFone is the largest wireless reseller in the U.S., with about 21 million subscribers and prepaid brands including Straight Talk and Simple Mobile. Verizon announced in September that it plans to acquire TracFone from América Móvil in a deal worth up to $6.9 billion, which still must pass regulatory approval. Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton suggested that the Federal Communications Commission require the divestiture of TracFone subscribers who are currently served by third-party networks. According to Adderton, doing so would curb the potentially costly disruptions to these consumers by allowing them to remain on the AT&T or T-Mobile networks. “Moreover, imposing such a condition would serve the public interest by allowing an independent (mobile virtual network operator) to achieve the scale necessary to compete with the major facilities-based carriers and their affiliated prepaid brands.” Adderton “doesn’t believe for a second” that T-Mobile and AT&T are going to let Verizon use their networks to make money, meaning millions of customers will be looking for new services. That’s on top of all the customers who will be affected if T-Mobile shuts off the its (formerly Sprint's) 3G network earlyin 2022, as it has informed current Boost owner Dish Network it plans to do.