Summary
1. Even the “global economic recession” does not seem to be a good enough reason for Sprint-Nextel and T-Mobile USA to come together. 2. They would only immensely increase their “struggles” in doing so. 3. Surely and superficially, “[a] merger may become an inevitable next step” – but possibly only on paper.
Analysis
It would become “the second-largest carrier by total subscribers.” However, while it may make sense from a market share point of view, there appear to be too many technological obstacles in the way. “Foreign ownership concerns” will be an issue to the extent that there may need to be a totally separate operation serving federal government agencies. The source article is probably correct that other “regulatory approvals” can be achieved. Nevertheless, the “network integration hurdles” appear overwhelming given the experience with just merging Sprint and Nextel.
Unquestionably, “AT&T and Verizon...would welcome a Sprint-T-Mobile merger.” It would give them the best of all worlds – further pricing stability – along with an even weaker combined competitor.
Having “pesky network problems” would be a gross understatement. Dealing with the ramifications of a GSM/CDMA/iDEN infrastructure would be a compounded nightmare.
