tmobile

Just weeks before T-Mobile is expected to merge with MetroPCS, a report from the Seattle Times indicates that more than 100 people in marketing and other departments at the company headquarters in Bellevue will be let go.

We’ve reached out to T-Mobile for comment and will update this story when we hear back.

T-Mobile’s proposed deal to gobble up MetroPCS could be approved early next month. On Wednesday, the carrier got past one big hurdle when the Department of Justice gave the green light to let a 30 day period of waiting to expire.

But before anything is set in stone, several entities are urging the FCC to make sure jobs are protected as a result of the merger, and these new layoffs make this situation all the more interesting.

In a filing submitted Tuesday with the FCC, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) found that the merger will cut a “significant number of jobs” in the United States.

metropcsThough T-Mobile and MetroPCS did admit the deal would result in a “relatively small number” of job losses, the CWA says that the two companies are using the word ”synergies” as a euphemism for firing workers and are underestimating the effect of the merger.

It has been more than four months since T-Mobile announced its intentions to merge with MetroPCS. T-Mobile plans to issue a $1.5 billion cash payment as part of the deal, and give MetroPCS shareholders a 26 percent ownership in the new entity.

If approved, the transaction would combine T-Mobile with MetroPCS, which directly employs 3,700 to service about 9.3 million customers. T-Mobile employs about 36,000 in the U.S., with 4,800 here in Washington.

T-Mobile is the country’s fourth largest wireless carrier, and it is looking to outgun Sprint, which is involved in its own merger efforts with Clearwire. Both T-Mobile and Clearwire are based in Bellevue, so these deals will have special importance to the Seattle tech region.

Last month, T-Mobile reported lower fourth quarter revenue and profits overnight, and gave a clear signal that it will be making additional cuts in attempt to to shore up its business.

The Bellevue-based company, part of Deutsche Telekom, reported a 5.2 percent decline in total revenue, to $4.92 billion, from the same quarter a year ago. The company’s operating profit, before certain expenses, fell 25 percent to $1.04 billion over the same time period.

Previously on GeekWire: T-Mobile fires back at AT&T with new ad: “What keeps AT&T up at night? Apparently us.”

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