Dish Network, Charter Communications and Altice USA are among the bidders for assets T-Mobile US plans to sell to win regulatory approval for its takeover of Sprint, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The companies are on a shortlist of bidders favored by the Justice Department, which has the final say on the deal, the report said.
The antitrust division would be comfortable with cable companies like Charter or Altice buying the assets because they are better positioned to become viable competitors with their own networks, one source told the news agency.
T-Mobile and Sprint already agreed to sell prepaid brand Boost to appease the Federal Communications Commission, which also has to approve the deal. To win over the Justice Department, the companies are also discussing offloading another prepaid brand and enough spectrum to help set up a viable fourth competitor if the deal goes through.
Representatives for Dish, Charter, Altice USA, T-Mobile, Sprint and the Justice Department declined to comment.
