TMUS T Mobile US Inc

By Drew FitzGerald and Brent Kendall 

As executives from T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. work to save their more than $26 billion merger, a familiar agitator is looming ever larger over negotiations with the U.S. government.

Charlie Ergen, the billionaire executive chairman of Dish Network Corp., has been trying to persuade antitrust enforcers the deal is bad for competition. Now he is arguing the best way to remedy that is to force the wireless companies to cast off more assets, and his satellite-TV operator is leading the chase to acquire them, people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Ergen met jointly with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and Justice Department antitrust chief Makan Delrahim this week and "explained the need for a minimum of four nationwide mobile network operators," according to an FCC filing posted Friday.

The deal earned the FCC chairman's blessing last month after the merger partners agreed to divest of Sprint's Boost Mobile prepaid brand and to invest in rural broadband. But the Justice Department is still pushing the companies to shed more assets, such as wireless spectrum licenses, and make other commitments that would preserve competition in the cellular market, according to people familiar with the talks.

Dish, which has amassed vast amounts of wireless spectrum that it needs to put to use, is among the companies in the running to become the fourth operator, people familiar with the matter said. Other suitors include cable operators Charter Communications Inc. and Altice USA Inc., the people said.

Sarah Krouse contributed to this article.

Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com and Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 14, 2019 16:42 ET (20:42 GMT)

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