In December 2013, multiple reports indicated that Sprint Corporation and its parent company, SoftBank, were working towards a deal to acquire a majority stake in T-Mobile US for at least US$20 billion.

The proposed merger would have further bolstered T-Mobile's position in the overall market and resulted in the country's major national carriers being controlled by only three companies.

[7][8][9] Members of the government were skeptical that such an acquisition would be approved by regulators, citing antitrust concerns and an explicit goal by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler to maintain four national carriers in the United States.

[10][11] On April 30, 2014, Bloomberg reported that Sprint was in talks with its lenders to ensure that the company would be financially prepared for the bid, then valued at $24 billion and planned for "summer 2014".

It was also reported that due to his success within the company, then T-Mobile CEO John Legere was the top contender to be named CEO of a merged Sprint/T-Mobile and that Sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal, as had occurred with AT&T's failed attempt to purchase T-Mobile.

[12] On August 1, 2014, Xavier Niel's Iliad SA publicly announced a $16 billion all-cash counter-bid to acquire a 56% stake in T-Mobile US and to be funded using equity and debt.

Iliad is the parent company of French carrier Free Mobile, which had, like T-Mobile, undertaken disruptive business moves to undercut its competitors, triggering a "price war" among them upon its launch in 2012. Credit Suisse analysts felt that the bid would not be attractive to the company's current shareholders due to its lower value in comparison to Sprint's bid, but could "put pressure on Sprint to move sooner rather [than] later.

"[13][14] On August 4, 2014, Bloomberg reported that Sprint had abandoned its bid to acquire T-Mobile, considering the unlikelihood that such a deal would be approved by the U.S. government and its regulators.

[16] However, after months of speculation and rumors about a potential deal being reached, both T-Mobile and Sprint announced on November 4, 2017, that while they have had discussions about a possible merger, the two parties had decided to end merger talks due to not being able to agree on the terms of the deal,[17] due to Softbank's board of directors reported vote on October 27 where they decided not to give up control of Sprint.

They stated "With the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, and the resulting more rapid deployment of a nationwide 5G network with broader coverage, greater capacity, higher throughput and lower latency, the wholesale market place will be more competitive with three full service competitors, rather than two.

The resulting excess capacity would be available for MVNOs in these areas as a third option that has not been available in the current marketplace.”[19] On June 28, 2019, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai voiced his support for the merger.

He went on to say that Sprint has much mid-band spectrum, but that “the company standing alone does not have the capacity to deploy 5G in this spectrum throughout large parts of rural America.” The combined T-Mobile-Sprint will have the capacity to do that, he claimed, pointing to a T-Mobile and Sprint commitment to deploy mid-band 5G to 88 percent of the U.S. population, including two-thirds of rural consumers.

[20] On August 28, 2018, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said that it opposed the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint in the proposed set up.

They stated that the merger which raised competitive and national security concerns, would lead to loss of jobs, and that both companies would be liable to build out nationwide 5G on their own.

Both deals were contingent on final regulatory approval of the merger from the FCC, California Public Utilities Commission, and state AGs (or loss of lawsuit); the Spectrum sale would be completed 3 years after the closure of the merger to allow time for Sprint legacy network customers to switch to the new T-Mobile network.

[4][35] On June 11, 2019, several news outlets reported that the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile was facing a major legal challenge as ten attorneys general from nine states (New York, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin) and Washington, D.C., filed suit to block the merger, alleging it would result in higher prices for consumers to the extent of $4.5 billion annually.

[39] On June 21, 2019, it was reported that four more states — Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nevada — had joined the lawsuit seeking to block the merger.

[46][47] On February 16, 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she would not appeal the court's decision in favor of the merger.

Instead, we hope to work with all the parties to ensure that consumers get the best pricing and service possible, that networks are built out throughout our state, and that good-paying jobs are created here in New York.” [48] This is significant because she was one of the two leaders in the lawsuit, the other being California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

[49][50] On March 11, 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced he will not appeal the judge's decision made during the previous month to reject the state AGs’ lawsuit against the T-Mobile-Sprint merger.

They also stated that wherever Sprint's 2.5 GHz network is live: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Washington, DC; they intend to switch to T-Mobile brand (NY being next) and cut off Sprint's subscribers access to said network.

They also stated all Sprint subscribers will soon have access to the entire network (regardless of roaming or not) but did not give details on that further, and it will most likely require a device and/or SIM card change.

According to James Kirby, the leader that told these employees about their layoff, these Sprint workers are being laid off to make room for 200 new positions inside the merged T-Mobile.

These jobs will include departments like Retail, Care, T-Mobile for Business, Engineering, and network organizations, and these layoffs were to streamline employees where customers need them most.