T-Mobile completes Sprint merger, Legere hands off to Sievert

T-Mobile said it has completed its merger with Sprint and that Mike Sievert is now CEO of the wireless carrier.

John Legere, who was CEO of T-Mobile since 2012 and orchestrated the company's "Un-carrier" campaign, had planned to step down.

Sievert's job will now revolve around integrating Sprint, maintaining momentum vs. Verizon and AT&T and deliver integration synergies of at least $43 billion.

You'd be forgiven if you forgot the details of the T-Mobile-Sprint deal. In a nutshell, T-Mobile got the approval from the FCC to acquire Sprint for $26 million in October 2019. The US Department of Justice approved the merger in July on condition that it sell key assets to Dish Networks. Despite those approvals, the deal was held up by lawsuits that were ultimately rejected by the US District Court in February. T-Mobile's plan to acquire Sprint was outlined in 2018 after years of on-and-off talks.  

T-Mobile said that it will build out its nationwide 5G network to cover 99% of the US population and have 14 more times capacity in the next six years than today. With Sprint, the new T-Mobile will have various spectrum bands to optimize.

The closing of the T-Mobile-Sprint deal also ends years of false starts and a merger that was hampered by regulatory concerns.

More:

• T-Mobile adds 7 million net customers in 2019
• US District Court rejects lawsuit trying to block T-Mobile-Sprint merger