T-Mobile and Sprint merger approved by the Justice Department

The Justice Department has officially given the T-Mobile and Sprint merger the green light.

Under the settlement announced on Friday, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Sprint prepaid will need to be divested to Dish, the Justice Department said. Dish could then become the fourth major wireless carrier in the U.S. as T-Mobile, the third biggest carrier, would acquire Sprint, the fourth biggest, The Verge notes.

The Department of Justice's antitrust division said that the $26 billion merger, "without this remedy, would substantially harm competition," The Washington Post reports. It also said that the terms set up Dish as a disruptive force in wireless, per The Wall Street Journal.

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T-Mobile and Sprint also must "make available to Dish at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail locations," the Justice Department said. The two carriers announced their intention to merge in 2018, and the merger is still being challenged by numerous states, The New York Times reports. It now must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission, and it is expected to. In May, FCC Chair Ajit Pai said that the merger is "in the public interest" and that he will "recommend to my colleagues that the FCC approve it."