The Federal Trade Commission approved T-Mobile's purchase of MetroPCS as a reverse merger, stating the merger will overall be good for consumers in the U.S.
"We find that the transaction is not likely to result generally in competitive or other public interest harms," the FCC reported in a statement. "In addition, to the extent there may be some possible competitive harms in selected geographic areas, we find that these possible competitive harms are outweighed by certain public interest benefits likely to result from the proposed transaction. Such benefits include the facilitation of Long Term Evolution deployment, the expansion of the MetroPCS brand into new geographical markets, the development of a more robust, national network, improved quality of service, and the strengthening of the fourth largest nationwide service provider's ability to compete in the mobile broadband services market."
In a different statement Julius Genachowski noted, "With today's approval, America's mobile market continues to strengthen, moving toward robust competition and revitalized competitors. Today's action will benefit millions of American consumers and help the U.S maintain the global leadership in mobile it has regained in recent years."
The Justice Department also recently approved the deal, that still has to be approved by a MetroPCS shareholder vote.
T-Mobile is planning on offering the iPhone and reducing subsidies. MetroPCS' LTE is the slowest in the U.S..