Sprint Abandoning Pursuit of T-Mobile: Sources

Sprint Corp. (NYSE:S) is ending its pursuit of T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE:TMUS), according to people familiar with the matter. The company and its parent, SoftBank Corp. decided it simply would be too difficult to win approval from regulators, the people said.

Sprint had been working on a bid for T-Mobile for months while studying regulatory opposition. Officials at both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission had signaled early on they were happy with the number of wireless carriers and feared further consolidation of major players would harm consumers.

Sprint plans to make an announcement early on Wednesday, the people said. The carrier has been working for years on a major overhaul of its network and feels enough progress has been made that going alone remains an attractive near-term strategy. Sprint is still committed to consolidation down the line, the people said.