T-Mobile really wants to get the public in favor of the merger between it and Sprint. The company announced that if the merger with Sprint goes through, it will offer 10 years of free, unlimited 5G service to first responders.
The program will reportedly be called the “Connecting Heroes Initiative,” and is part of a larger “5G for Good” plan that the company hopes to build. Through the program, State and local public first responders can sign up to receive coverage. Those agencies can actually sign up right now, and will get the coverage if the merger closes in the next year.
“First responders are under more pressure than ever before. With the 5G network New T-Mobile will create, we can do our part to help say thanks,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere, according to a report from The Verge. “We’re talking about connecting every public and nonprofit state and local police fire and EMS agency and every one of their first responders with unlimited talk, text, and smartphone data with the highest network priority.”
According to Legere, if all of the agencies in the country sign up, they will save $7.7 billion over the next 10 years. Some areas won’t be eligible for the program, as T-Mobile’s network currently isn’t available in those areas.
Of course, that money will only be saved if the merger goes through — however, the merger is getting closer and closer to completion. Both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission have approved the merger. That said, a multi-state coalition of state’s attorneys have joined forces in an attempt to block the deal, and both T-Mobile and Sprint have said that the merger won’t close until that lawsuit is resolved. Resolving that lawsuit could take quite some time.
A big part of the approval of the merger from the FCC was the fact that T-Mobile and Sprint have promised a large, robust 5G network. We’ll have to wait and see just how built-out the so-called “New T-Mobile’s” 5G network ends up being, but combined, it’s possible the new carrier could pose a threat to the likes of Verizon and AT&T, which are currently the two largest carriers in the country.