The Justice Department is poised to approve T-Mobile US Inc.’s merger with Sprint Corp. under a plan designed to create a new wireless carrier by handing assets to satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. , according to people familiar with the matter.

T-Mobile, the nation’s No. 3 carrier by subscribers, and No. 4 Sprint have spent weeks negotiating with antitrust enforcers and each other over the transfer to Dish of building blocks for a network to satisfy concerns that their more than $26 billion merger would hurt consumers by reducing price competition.

The result is a deal that gives the satellite-TV company nine million Sprint cellphone customers, new wireless spectrum and the ability to operate on T-Mobile’s network during a seven-year transition period, some of the people said. Those subscribers represent about a fifth of Sprint’s customer base.

Dish would pay $1.4 billion for the Sprint customer accounts, most of which come from its Boost Mobile prepaid brand, and $3.6 billion three years later to buy Sprint spectrum licenses in the 800 megahertz range, these people said. The right to use those airwaves, which can travel long distances, would help Dish expand service in rural areas. That is a top priority for the Federal Communications Commission, another agency with authority over the merger.

The deal, which would require Dish to offer cellphone service to consumers, is intended to maintain competition by creating a fourth national wireless player, along with Verizon Communications Inc. , AT&T Inc. and the new, larger T-Mobile. However, the satellite-TV provider would be dwarfed by the others in terms of both subscribers and revenue.