DOJ Gives Nod to Sprint, T-Mobile Merger

It’s almost a done deal as far as the federal government is concerned.

The U.S. Department of Justice granted approval of the merger between Overland Park-based Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US, of Bellevue, Wash., which the companies say will create a company with $76.9 billion in combined revenues, as of their last fiscal years. As a condition of the marriage, Sprint must divest its Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile pre-paid businesses, as well as its 800 MHz licenses to Dish Network Corp., of Englewood, Colo., for $5 billion.

Additionally, the new company, which will fall under the T-Mobile name, must provide new Dish customers services for seven years and transition assistance for three years. Dish will also get dibs on retail sites and cell towers that are no longer being used by the combined corporation.

Though there are still some other regulatory conditions that need to be resolved, this DOJ approval for this piece of the transaction was considered one of the biggest steps for approval of the deal, which was announced in April.

Sprint’s 3.9-million-square-foot Overland Park headquarters was recently acquired by Wichita-based Occidental Management. The site was valued at $342 million by Johnson County, though a purchase price was not disclosed.