There is still plenty of vocal opposition to the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile USA, but the deal is looking increasingly likely to be approved without significant conditions during 2020. It crossed a major hurdle last week when it was green-lighted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) and other regulatory bodies. One reason for the decision was reported to be promises by T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s parent firms (Deutsche Telekom and Softbank of Japan respectively) to review their use of Chinese equipment in their networks. If so, this shows how the USA is pressurizing allied countries to exclude Huawei and ZTE from critical projects (see separate item). Japan has already introduced restrictions, which will affect Softbank…