Overview

• The Justice Department declined to seek an injunction against T-Mobile’s $4.4 billion deal to acquire UScellular after a detailed antitrust probe
• Investigators determined UScellular’s limited scale would lead to network decline absent the merger and that T-Mobile’s integration offers immediate speed and rural coverage gains
• The Antitrust Division raised alarms that the transaction would further concentrate over 80 percent of mobile wireless spectrum in the hands of the Big 3 carriers
• Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater warned the DOJ remains poised to challenge future spectrum aggregation that could block the rise of a fourth national competitor
• Pending FCC approval, T-Mobile has discontinued its diversity, equity and inclusion programs to address regulatory objections