Masayoshi Son isn’t used to taking no for an answer. But the Softbank chief’s pleas for a merger of the third-and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers seem to be falling on deaf ears. It is no secret that Son, known to have threatened self-immolation to get his way in the past, wants to combine Sprint, which Softbank acquired last year, with T-Mobile as part of his vision to create a global industry leader.
Reports have been swirling since last year that SoftBank-owned Sprint was eyeing to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. As recent as last month, however, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse admitted that the U.S. government wasn’t exactly keen on the deal, likely due to possible monopolization concerns. Those same fears were expressed before the government ultimately nixed AT&T’s plan to acquire T-Mobile. Today, a new story suggests the deal won’t happen anytime soon. According to Bloomberg, Deutsche Telekom’s CEO Timotheus Hoettges recently made comments to company directors suggesting that there are currently too many regulatory roadblocks for a deal to move forward soon, at least with SoftBank. It’s possible that T-Mobile will work with another company on a sale, like Dish, which has sought additional spectrum in the United States. For now, however, it appears T-Mobile and Sprint won’t become a single entity anytime soon.