Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser aligned with his counterparts from 12 other states and the District of Columbia earlier this year when he joined the suit. Critics of the merger have argued that it would hurt consumers by reducing competition in the cellphone service industry, likely driving up the cost of service.
The U.S. Justice Department, however, signed off on T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion plan to buy out Sprint in July after the company agreed to sell its prepaid wireless subsidiaries — including Boost and Virgin Mobile — to Dish for $5 billion. Dish also would also take over some of T-Mobile and Sprint’s service spectrum as part of the deal, setting it up Douglas County-based satellite TV company as the nation’s fourth major wireless provider should the merger be allowed to go through.
Now, with fresh commitments from Dish and T-Mobile in hand, Weiser’s office is on board with the merger, too. Weiser recused himself from negotiations with the companies but Chief Deputy Attorney General Natalie Hanlon Leh was part of the team that works on the deals. According to Monday’s announcement, she is no longer concerned the merger will hurt consumers in the state.
“Our announcement today ensures Coloradans will benefit from Dish’s success as a nationwide wireless competitor,” she said in a statement.
T-Mobile has agreed to deliver the following:
Within three years of the merger, T-Mobile’s 5G network in Colorado will deliver download speeds of 100 megabits per second or greater to 68% of the population, including at least 60% of people in rural areas.
Within six years, it will deliver speeds of 100 megabits per second or better to at least 92% of Coloradans, including at least 74% of people in rural areas.
For at least five years after the merger, T-Mobile will offer a service plan with unlimited talk, text and 2 gigabytes of data for $15 per month or less and another plan offering unlimited talk, text and 5 gigabytes of data for $25 per month or less.
Dish, meanwhile, has committed to launching its wireless arm out of its facility in Littleton and keeping it there for at least seven years, state officials say. The company has committed to employing 2,000 people in the wireless industry in Colorado within three years of the deal closing. Colorado will be among the first 10 states to get Dish 5G wireless service.
“Today’s settlement with Colorado positions Dish, a company founded in Colorado, to make a transformative impact on the wireless market,” Dish co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen said in a statement.
Later this month, Dish will start accepting proposals from contractors that can help with site acquisitions, construction and other elements involved in standing up the company promised 5G network, according to a separate announcement Monday. The company has vowed to build a standalone network that will be available to 70% of Americans by June 2023.
T-Mobile and Dish face financial penalties if they don’t keep up their ends of these bargains, according to the AG’s office, fines of up to $80 million and $20 million, respectively.
From his office in Charlottesville, Va., Tyler Van Selow sees Dish’s arrangement with Colorado as a win-win. Van Selow is the managing director of boutique investment firm Masonry Capital Management, LLC and follows Dish through his work as an analyst. The deal lets the market know Dish is committed to investing long-term in 5G and ensures Colorado will benefit both in the early going and in the future, he said.
“This means much more than just higher speeds,” Van Selow said in an email. “It means jobs, and it gives the state the advantage of being able to attract additional capital investment as new use cases and technologies are developed.”
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