US antitrust authorities on Friday approved the $26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint in a deal that brings together the third- and fourth-largest wireless operators as the industry moves toward deployment of superfast 5G networks.

The tie-up aims to create a strong number three US operator to compete against sector leaders Verizon and AT&T and expedite 5G deployment, but consumer groups have complained it would mean reduced competition and higher prices.

The deal calls for Sprint to sell some of its prepaid wireless operations to satellite TV operator Dish Network, which would create its own telecom service.

"With this merger and accompanying divestiture, we are expanding output significantly by ensuring that large amounts of currently unused or underused spectrum are made available to American consumers in the form of high quality 5G networks," said Makan Delrahim, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division.

Delrahim added that the agreement would provide Dish with the resources needed to "provide a full range of mobile wireless services nationwide."

T-Mobile, whose parent is German-based Deutsche Telekom, and Sprint, controlled by Japan's SoftBank, say the merger will be good for consumers.

It will create a "bigger and bolder competitor than ever before -- one that will deliver the most transformative 5G network in the country, lower prices, better quality, unmatched value and thousands of jobs," said T-Mobile chief executive John Legere, who will retain the CEO job upon completion of the merger.

"Today's results are a win-win for everyone involved. We cannot wait to get to work bringing this pro-consumer, pro-competition New T-Mobile 5G network to US customers from coast to coast."

Sprint executive chairman Marcelo Claure said the tie-up "will allow the US to fiercely compete for 5G leadership" and that the combined firm would build "one of the world's most advanced 5G networks, which will massively revolutionize the way consumers and businesses use their connected devices to enhance their daily lives."

Legere told analysts on a conference call he expected regulatory approval to be completed soon, with the merger completed by the end of the year.

- Higher prices? -

Earlier this year, 14 states sued to block the deal. The Justice Department said five agreed to the settlement, which still requires approval in court.

New York state attorney general Letitia James said a group of state regulators would maintain their effort to block the merger.

"The coalition today reaffirmed its commitment to opposing this merger, which would reduce competition and increase prices for consumers," James said in a statement.

Legere said the companies were "willing to engage" with opponents and that "our intention is not to close while the litigation is ongoing."

Joshua Stager, of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, said the deal fell short of retaining four "viable competitors" for the sector, adding that the effort to sell assets to Dish was "needlessly convoluted."

"DOJ does not need to bend over backwards to fix a bad merger. It can simply block the deal," he said.

Avery Gardiner, an antitrust fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said the decision to approve the deal "goes against decades of settled principles" of competition.

"The wireless industry is already highly concentrated, and this deal is likely to result in higher prices, calcified cell service plans, and lower quality all around," she said.

Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America union, said the tie-up would kill 30,000 jobs and would make Dish a reseller of services over the T-Mobile network rather than a genuine rival.

But Jessica Melugin of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said the deal would be positive for consumers by allowing for three strong 5G operators.

She added that, with the government out of the way, consumers would get the wireless innovations they deserve in an unfettered marketplace.

Dish Network, which operates satellite and other pay TV systems, said it would deploy a 5G broadband network capable of serving 70 percent of the US population by June 2023.

Dish will get wireless spectrum to be divested in the deal as well as the prepaid Sprint operations Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Sprint Prepaid.

Twitter delivers strong user growth; stock surges
Washington (AFP) July 26, 2019 - Twitter shares vaulted higher Friday after a second-quarter update showed better-than-expected revenues and growth in users even as the social network cracks down on fake accounts and inappropriate content.

The short messaging service said profit rose to $1.1 billion, lifted by a one-time tax benefit, up from $100 million a year earlier. Excluding special items, the adjusted profit was $37 million.

Revenue rose 18 percent at $841 million, stronger than expected, with the vast majority from advertising.

Twitter's new measure of its user base -- monetizable daily active users -- was 139 million, compared to 122 million in the same period last year.

"Q2 was a really strong quarter for us," chief executive Jack Dorsey said in a conference call.

"We're really proud of our results and also the work and the effort that went into it."

Shares in Twitter rallied 8.9 percent to close at $41.52 on the news.

"Twitter's value proposition to advertisers is not the size of its audience, but the engagement of its users," said eMarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg.

"The strong growth in monetizable daily active users shows that Twitter users are sticking with the platform, and that should resonate with advertisers."

Twitter has stopped using a count of "monthly active users," which was 330 million earlier this year, in favor of the new measure of daily users on the mobile app or website who see ads in their feeds.

- Focus on 'health' -

The results showed Twitter remains profitable and is boosting the number of users even as it moves aggressively to weed out fake accounts and curb abusive content.

"Health of public conversation remains our top priority," Dorsey said.

"Our focus in this quarter was ensuring that our rules and how we enforce them are easy to understand. This quarter we refreshed our rules with simple and clear language."

Dorsey said he believes the efforts to curb hate speech and spam will eventually pay off by bringing in more users and keeping them on the platform.

"We do believe health is a long-term growth vector for us," he said during the call with analysts.

Twitter and other social networks have been walking a fine line, responding to pressure from governments to remove "hate speech," incitements to violence and other abusive content while remaining open.

President Donald Trump has been a prolific Twitter user with more than 60 million followers, but he has nonetheless accused social networks of suppressing conservative voices.

Dorsey said other improvements also appear to be helping Twitter's growth, including efforts on "making Twitter feel more conversational" and boosting the use of machine learning on timelines.

"We're providing more relevant content in people's timelines based on what they're engaging with in near real time," he said.

"We're experimenting with new ways to customize the timeline, making it much easier for people to follow what's happening within their specific interests."

Twitter has been adding live video events -- on news, sports and entertainment -- as part of its efforts to keep users engaged.

While it has a strong core base of celebrities, politicians and journalists, Twitter has been struggling to gain broader appeal and has lagged behind other social networks like Facebook, which has more than two billion users worldwide.

Dorsey, one of the founders of Twitter, returned as CEO in 2015 with the service sputtering and looking at a potential sale.

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