Softbank is making an end-run around concerns about a merger of Sprint and T-Mobile US by instead hitting up T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom. As reported by Japanese news agency Kyodo, Japan-based Softbank has entered into an agreement with Germany-based Deutsche Telekom to buy the latter's ownership stake in US carrier T-Mobile. The US Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice have expressed their concerns about the potential for such consolidation in the US cellular market, and the move by Softbank would likely end up still being heavily scrutinized.

The end result (a Sprint/T-Mobile merger) would likely still be the same, though this move might bring the two companies as separate entities under the same umbrella corporation first. Softbank bought Sprint last year for $21.6 billion, and they've been vocal about their desire to also buy T-Mobile. Sprint, too, has been pursuing T-Mobile, though it's more likely that Softbank's even deeper pockets would be better suited to such an acquisition.