T-Mobile agrees to buy Sprint in $26 billion deal

T-Mobile announced on Sunday it has reached a $26 billion deal to buy Sprint.

T-Mobile and Sprint are the third- and fourth-largest wireless companies in the United States. They tried to merge in 2014, but there was resistance from the Obama administration. Under the deal, T-Mobile CEO John Legere will lead the combined company, and it will keep the name T-Mobile. The companies said they want to hire more employees after the merger, especially in rural areas, and will focus on developing faster 5G networks. This will affect 127 million customers.

The deal must be reviewed by the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, and if approved, it's expected to close by the first half of 2019, The Associated Press reports.

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