USA Today reported that T-Mobile and Sprint announced a merger April 29 that would make the combined company the third-largest cellular carrier in the U.S. The new company, which would be called T-Mobile, would have more than 90 million wireless subscribers, behind AT&T's 93 million subscribers, and Verizon's 116 million. The combined companies would be valued at $146 billion, including debt. "It's a very simple rule of business. Both companies need each other," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure on a conference call April 29. "The reason why this is going to work is that T-Mobile cannot do the 5G strategy without Sprint and Sprint cannot do it without T-Mobile." Currently, the two companies employ 80,000 people, but most mergers like this result in layoffs at redundant positions. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota on the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee, said in a statement, “Competition among the four largest cell phone carriers has led to lower prices, better service and more innovation.... I remain concerned that increased consolidation could undermine benefits to consumers.” T-Mobile and Sprint said they believe the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department will sign off on the merger by the first half of 2019.