http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2018/04/29/t-mobile-and-sprint-announce-plans-to-merge/

T-Mobile and Sprint, the nation’s third and fourth largest wireless carriers, announced a roughly $26 billion merger on Sunday that could dramatically reshape the U.S. telecom industry while testing the appetites of consumers and regulators alike for further corporate consolidation.

The deal marks the latest attempt by T-Mobile, operated by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, and Sprint, run by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, to combine forces as they seek to amass subscribers and challenge the national footprints of AT&T and Verizon. The move comes at a time when the industry is racing to deploy the next generation of ultra-fast wireless technology, called 5G.