Sprint, T-Mobile reportedly talking again about a merger

Wireless carriers Sprint and T-Mobile reportedly are talking again about a merger that would, if completed, vault the resulting company into the No. 2 spot in the highly competitive industry, behind AT&T.

The No. 3 and No. 4 wireless providers — T-Mobile has 69.6 million subscribers, Sprint 53.7 million — attempted a merger three years ago. But concerns that regulators would not approve the deal led to an unraveling.

T-Mobile declined to comment. Sprint could not be reached.

Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of Tokyo-based telecom and internet company Softbank, has been seeking a deal to improve Sprint’s position. Last week, Charter Communications declined an offer to merge with Sprint, to complete a pay-TV/wireless/broadband powerhouse.

The two carriers restarted discussions recently, according to Bloomberg, which cited persons familiar with the situation. Last week, Sprint CEO and President Marcelo Claure said the company would have an announcement “in the near future.”

Back in May, Softbank’s Son and TMobile executives separately said the two companies would likely begin talking again.

Sprint and T-Mobile’s competitors, AT&T and Verizon, each have begun building content libraries to diversify: AT&T with its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, Verizon by acquiring first AOL and then Yahoo.