Sprint and T-Mobile said on Saturday that they had ended merger talks, marking the second time in three years that the two failed to reach a deal to create a stronger competitor to Verizon and AT&T.

The announcement represents a setback to Sprint, T-Mobile and their majority shareholders — Sprint is owned by the Japanese technology giant SoftBank and T-Mobile by Deutsche Telekom of Germany — in their efforts to create a stronger third-place competitor in the American wireless market.

But unlike three years ago, when Sprint and T-Mobile called off their last round of merger discussions because of strong opposition from the Barack Obama administration, this time the culprit was control.

The final blow to the latest round of talks came Saturday night in Tokyo, when Tim Höttges, the chief executive of Deutsche Telekom, met at the Tokyo home of SoftBank’s founder, Masayoshi Son, according to a person briefed on the matter. There, Mr. Höttges delivered to Mr. Son and Sprint’s chief executive, Marcelo Claure, new terms for a merger of the American companies.