(Apr 30): T-Mobile US Inc. agreed to acquire Sprint Corp. for US$26.5 billion ($35.1 billion) in stock, a wager that the carriers can team up to build a next-generation wireless network and get a jump on industry leaders Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.

The deal follows years of will-they-won’t-they deliberations between Deutsche Telekom AG, the German company that controls T-Mobile, and SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese owner of Sprint, and comes about five months after an earlier merger attempt collapsed. The combination reduces the US wireless industry to three major competitors from four, ensuring heavy scrutiny from regulators.

“We are going to have an impact on America,” John Legere, the T-Mobile boss who will serve as chief executive officer of the combined entity, said on a conference call Sunday. Rivals such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast will have to respond, he said. “We are going to drag the rest of the players kicking and screaming to the prize, which is American leadership” in fifth-generation wireless networks.

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