Source: POLTICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/20/18

Sprint and T-Mobile are making the plea to regulators that their planned merger should be approved because it'll be good for competition and enable nationwide deployment of next-generation 5G service in rural areas that lack access to high-speed internet, reports Pro Tech's Margaret Harding McGill. That's a smart argument, considering that the administration has made improving rural broadband capabilities a priority.

T-Mobile plans to increase outdoor wireless coverage to reach 59.4 million rural residents, or 95.8 percent of rural America, according to the companies' public interest statement. It aims to deliver wireless broadband at at least 10 Mbps and an even faster fixed, in-home wireless broadband service to most of that footprint. Without merging, neither company would have the spectrum or towers needed to make such commitments, the companies said.

Three players: A merged Sprint and T-Mobile would compete with AT&T and Verizon, leaving just three nationwide providers. Lawyers for the companies also have to convince the Justice Department to sign off on the deal, a tough task because DOJ's antitrust division usually sets a higher bar than the FCC for evaluating the competitive effects of deals because it has to use a different economic analysis.

The companies' rural access argument could resonate with DOJ antitrust cop Makan Delrahim, who said recently that he doesn't see an obvious problem with just three companies providing wireless services. That's a different take than the one held by Obama antitrust officials, who scared off Sprint and T-Mobile from attempting to combine.