After nearly two years of waiting to close their $26.5 billion merger, T-Mobile and Sprint have crossed the finish line and completed its quest to combine the third- and fourth-largest national wireless carriers. .

The merger comes less than two months after a US District Court gave the green light to the deal in a ruling that went against 14 state attorneys general who opposed the transaction.

T-Mobile and Sprint merger: What it means for you.

In 2014, Sprint parent SoftBank floated the idea of a deal with T-Mobile, but regulators and the White House were keen on keeping four national competitors.

The deal fell apart in the later part of that year, when SoftBank and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom couldn't agree on how much control each side would get.

What's the deal with satellite TV provider Dish?To get the Justice Department to sign off on the merger, Dish agreed to buy Sprint's prepaid brand Boost and acquire some wireless spectrum.

The deal also gives Dish access to T-Mobile's network for seven years while Dish builds its own 5G offering.

The company has spent years accumulating spectrum -- radio airwaves -- that could be used to build a wireless network. .

T-Mobile also has a deal to potentially lease Dish's unused 600MHz spectrum for use in its own 5G rollout. .

Why would Dish want to strike a deal with T-Mobile?While Dish already owns billions of dollars worth of its own spectrum, the company has yet to build its own wireless network.

Purchasing the divested prepaid businesses, getting additional airwaves and adding the ability to begin offering service on the T-Mobile network while it builds its own would make it easier and more cost-effective for Dish to finally become a wireless competitor. .

Under the deal, Dish will pay $1.4 billion for the prepaid businesses and $3.6 billion for the 800MHz spectrum, which is coveted because it has great range and can go through walls, even if it can't carry super-high speeds.

"Taken together, these opportunities will set the stage for our entry as the nation's fourth facilities-based wireless competitor and accelerate our work to launch the country's first standalone 5G broadband network," Dish CEO Charlie Ergen said in a statement.

Though T-Mobile CEO John Legere has called Dish a "credible competitor," many critics have doubts about Dish's commitment given its past reluctance to build out its network. .

What has T-Mobile promised the FCC it will do?In May 2019, T-Mobile negotiated a deal with the FCC that promised 5G coverage to nearly all of the US.

Specifically, as part of the FCC's deal, the new T-Mobile would meet several 5G network coverage benchmarks.

T-Mobile has also promised to offer a broadband alternative to rural customers and has guaranteed that 90% of Americans will see mobile broadband service at speeds of at least 100Mbps if the deal is approved.

T-Mobile and Sprint promise a combined network that'll deliver better service at lower prices?

They argue that their combined scale would help them build out a faster, more efficient network.

How will the migration happen?The companies say it would take about three years to migrate customers over to the T-Mobile network

Though both companies support LTE, T-Mobile's older network is based on a technology called GSM, and Sprint's is based on CDMA -- two incompatible networks

The companies say neither can build the 5G network they want without a combination, though that hardly would've been the rhetoric had you asked either side before this deal was announced

T-Mobile and Sprint say they'll invest roughly $40 billion in 5G over the next three years, potentially creating new jobs.