05:10 PM EDT, 05/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

According to an unconfirmed report in The Wall Street Journal, T-Mobile (TMUS) and Verizon (VZ) are in talks to carve up USM in two separate transactions. TMUS is getting close to a deal to buy some operations and spectrum licenses for $2 billion, which could close as soon as this month. VZ is in separate discussions for other assets, but is further away from a deal, which may not materialize. For USM, any deal would be a plus, but the company would essentially be gutting its wireless business and would be left with a portfolio of assets with limited appeal. From TMUS's perspective, when it comes to spectrum, more is better. While the deal appears to be structured in a way to avoid regulatory scrutiny, we are unsure if a sale of any kind will be approved. The Sprint/TMUS merger assumed DISH was going to be set up as a viable fourth competitor, but that never happened. We think regulators have learned a lesson from that and will put more scrutiny on any wireless deal that reduces competition.