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T-Mobile says no need for longer price cap promise in Sprint deal

T-Mobile’s CEO resisted calls Tuesday to cap cellular prices for more than three years if the company is permitted to go through with its $26.5 billion plan to merge with Sprint.

Speaking before a House Judiciary Committee, CEO John Legere insisted “prices will go down” on their own, citing expectations of a growth in wireless bandwidth.

Legere has agreed to cap cellular prices for three years in an effort to gain approval for the proposed tie-up, which would marry the nation’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers behind AT&T and Verizon.

Legere made the comment in response to questions from Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and Judiciary Committee Antitrust Chair David Cicilline (D-RI), who pressed him for a price cap of greater than three years.

“Why not make a price commitment for four or five years?” McBath asked.





“I will keep the pricing plans everyone has for three years,” Legere responded without answering the question.

As The Post exclusively reported last week, prominent Department of Justice staffers are privately pooh-poohing parts of the $26.5 billion deal, including the three-year price cap.

Senior department staffers, including antitrust chief Makan Delrahim, have remarked that T-Mobile’s three-year cap on prices looks weak given AT&T’s seven-year time-out tied to part of its $85 billion takeover of Time Warner.

T-Mobile has argued that buying Sprint would help fast-track its development of a next-generation 5G wireless network.

Opponents say the deal would dampen the cost-cutting war started by T-Mobile, raising prices across the board.

The Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission are expected to rule on the merger next month.





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