An obscure 2017 telecom deal explains why T-Mobile and Sprint agreed to merge

An obscure wireless industry deal from 2017 can help explain why T-Mobile and Sprint finally agreed to merge after years of flirting with a deal.

Last May, Verizon signed a deal to buy acompany called Straight Path for more than $3 billion. If you remember the deal, it's probably because AT&T and Verizon battled back and forth for the company in an insane bidding war. After a series of bids and overbids, Verizon ended up paying $184 per share for Straight Path, which had been trading at around $30 per share. The merger was completed this February. Verizon and AT&T both wanted Straight Path for the rights it owned over certain parts of the wireless spectrum -- specifically, something called millimeter wave frequencies. The two largest U.S. wireless providers believe owning this spectrum will be helpful as they build out 5G wireless networks, which could provide speeds about 100 times faster than the current 4G networks. Apparently, T-Mobile really wanted Straight Path too. But once it saw the bidding war break out between AT&T and Verizon, it decided it wasn't going to win and dropped out of the bidding.