Sprint and T-Mobile US could delay an expected merger announcement as they work to iron out the final details of the deal, Bloomberg reported.

Earlier reports indicated an agreement could be unveiled during the operators’ Q3 earnings calls later this month. However, sources told Bloomberg the pair are unlikely to finalise an accord in time and could push back the announcement by a few weeks. The reveal could come in mid- or late November, the report indicated.

Sprint and T-Mobile have yet to set dates for release of their respective earnings reports. Parent companies SoftBank and Deustche Telekom are due to issue their reports for the period in November.

Network potential
In September, Brendan Gill, CEO of network benchmarking company OpenSignal, told Mobile World Live a combined entity Sprint, T-Mobile entity would have all the spectrum assets it needs to build a “monster” 4G LTE network. A subsequent report from Reuters noted the operators are aiming to complete a merger deal without offloading any of their assets.

Sprint parent company SoftBank now appears to be after the hardware to match those spectrum holdings. Earlier this week the Japan-headquartered company launched a new venture with Lendlease to acquire some 8,000 existing wireless tower sites across the US and plans to partner with “major US carriers” on future expansions.

But US mobile rival Verizon does not appear to be intimidated by all the speculation and activity.

On the operator’s earnings call this week, Verizon CFO Matthew Ellis insisted the operator holds “the right set of assets to compete irrespective of the industry structure.”

“I’m very confident in our ability to be successful however things play out with other people,” he added.