Who wants some spectrum?

As T-Mobile tries to convince antitrust regulators that a benefit of its combination with Sprint is disruption of the home broadband market, the largest cable operators have already quietly moved into wireless telecom.  In 2017, Comcast began selling its Xfinity Mobile service as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that licenses spectrum from Verizon.  In 2018, Charter, the second largest cable operator launched its Spectrum Mobile also as a MVNO using Verizon’s network. 

This week, it was rumored that both firms held discussions with DOJ officials about the possibility of buying from T-Mobile/Sprint the pre-paid wireless service, Boost, and/or divested spectrum.  Such an acquisition by either firm would make sure four viable competitors remained in the pre-paid segment and alleviate a good bit of the antitrust concern with the proposed merger.  While Comcast announced on Friday that it was not interested in such a deal, Charter has yet to comment.  I imagine that regulators and politicians (e.g. Elizabeth Warren) would be WAY MORE in favor of expanded scale by a Comcast or Charter in this space than the entry of the BIG TECH giant, Amazon (the other suitor).