Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son.
Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son

Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son isn’t giving up on a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, based on his comments at Re/code’s Code Conference. When asked about Sprint’s lackluster LTE coverage, Son said that both Sprint and T-Mobile are lacking the nationwide spectrum needed to compete.

“Neither one of them has a sufficient network today,” he said.

His remarks also added some fuel to the fire that outspoken T-Mobile CEO John Legere could be tapped to lead a merged Sprint. Son said that he admires Legere, who has been unabashed in his criticism of Sprint and other rival wireless carriers.

The comments came as Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s majority owner, reportedly agreed to keep a minority stake in the combined company as part of any deal with Softbank, Sprint’s majority owner, according to a report from Reuters.

Son’s remarks about the carriers’ networks echoed his past arguments for a deal that would bring together America’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers. By his logic, merging the two companies would create a carrier with a network capable of challenging AT&T and Verizon.

Still, any potential merger faces heavy opposition from federal regulators. The federal government blocked T-Mobile’s last merger attempt with AT&T, saying that further consolidation among wireless carriers would hurt competition.

What’s more, T-Mobile’s disruptive “Uncarrier” policies have helped the company add millions of customers, forcing other major carriers to follow suit. Regulators will almost certainly be concerned that a merger of T-Mobile and Sprint would stop the flow of innovative changes.

But Son tried to head off that speculation, as well, saying that Sprint would continue to enforce network neutrality, something that AT&T has already begun eroding on its network. That, alongside past comments from the executive which said he planned to start a “price war” if Sprint was able to compete on a level playing field with its larger competitors, could put regulators at ease.

 

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