Bloomberg News is reporting that Sprint is pressing forward with plans to acquire T-Mobile, with a formal bid likely to be lobbed in June or July.
This, in itself, it’s not particularly surprising. Rumors about this mega-deal have been swirling around for months, and the CEO of Sprint’s Japanese owners, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, has been fairly candid about his desire to pull it off.
The really interesting part, though is that Sprint/Softbank could tap the fourth-placed carrier’s unconventional CEO John Legere to run the combined organization. Bloomberg says he is the “leading candidate.” If true, it could be a shrewd move, because Legere’s antics and strategy have sent shockwaves through the mobile industry, and won T-Mobile a lot of customers.
Quartz has reached out to Legere for comment. The company reports earnings tomorrow.
There has been widespread skepticism about whether regulators would ever approve a deal that would lead to further consolidation in America’s wireless market. (AT&T’s planned takeover of T-Mobile was rejected in 2011). Softbank started lobbying regulators in Washington last month. Its message seems to be that combining the two carriers would create a more sustainable competitor to the big two, AT&T and Verizon. The presentation video is available here.