T-Mobile says Sprint deal could close early next year

T-Mobile US’s chief financial officer said there is a possibility that its $26 billion acquisition deal of Sprint will close as early as the first quarter of 2019.

T-Mobile, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom, agreed in April to buy wireless carrier Sprint and the deal was initially expected to close in the first half of 2019.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice are currently scrutinizing the deal.

“The only remaining thing that is happening is depositions with the DoJ, which have started and will be completed in a few weeks,” CFO J. Braxton Carter told the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference in Barcelona.

“At this point, it’s more pointing to the second quarter as more probable (but) it could still be first quarter,” Carter said.

Both the agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The agreement between the third- and fourth-largest US wireless carriers in April was reached after four years of on-and-off talks that set the stage for the creation of a company that would compete more favorably with the top two wireless players, Verizon Communications and AT&T.