T-Mobile US swoop

T-MOBILE is buying rival Sprint for £19bn, reducing the US mobile industry to just three major players.

The companies, the third and fourth-biggest at present, have been mulling a deal for years so they can take on giants AT&T and Verizon. But a similar attempt four years ago was blocked by former president Barack Obama’s White House, with approval needed from competition regulators under his successor, Donald Trump.

That will require the firms to prove the deal will not result in higher prices. The combined company would keep the name T-Mobile.