A report from CNBC last month claimed that T-Mobile and Sprint were in talks of a merger. While a merger/buyout between the two carriers has been rumored for years, CNBC claimed that T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom would emerge as the majority owner of the new combined carrier. According to a new report from Bloomberg, negotiations between the two companies are almost complete.

The report claims that Sprint and T-Mobile are putting the finishing touches on the merger, which will likely be announced at the quarterly earnings report at the end of this month. Some of the current discussion topics include Sprint's valuation (estimated to be around $29 billion), the location of the combined company's headquarters, and appointments to the executive management team.

The merge is not expected to include a breakup/termination fee, meaning if one company backed out of the deal, there would be no financial penalty. This would align both companies to lobby government regulators for approval without any conflicts of interest. After AT&T called off its buyout of T-Mobile in 2011 due to government opposition, the company paid a $4 billion breakup fee to T-Mobile, which helped strengthen T-Mobile as a competitor.

The dates of T-Mobile and Sprint's quarterly earnings reports have not been set yet. Last year, T-Mobile's was on October 24, and Sprint's was the next day. Bloomberg reports that the deal may be pushed to a later date if the remaining details can't be worked out in time.

Source: Bloomberg

Thanks: Michael