We learned that T-Mobile and MetroPCS were planning to join forces back in October 2012. Of course, planning to join forces and actually being able to do so are two different things. You know, with all those government approvals and such. Well, as of today that process is one step closer to becoming a reality as they have received approval from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

With the DOJ approval out of the way, they are on to the next stop — approvals from the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) and Committee on Foreign Investment. Additionally, MetroPCS shareholders have a vote scheduled for April 12. Also, as reported by eWeek, the waiting period under the “Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, in connection with the Company’s proposed combination with T-Mobile USA, Inc. … has expired.”

Coming with little surprise, MetroPCS is pushing towards approval from the shareholders noting that if stockholders were to vote against the proposed combination, there would be “no assurance that MetroPCS will be able to deliver the same or better stockholder value.” Executive boards from both T-Mobile and MetroPCS previously (and unanimously) approved the merger.

T-Mobile is currently the fourth largest carrier and MetroPCS is the fifth largest carrier. Assuming the merger continues on the path of approval, it will bring about a T-Mobile with roughly 42.5 million subscribers and $24.8 billion in revenue. MetroPCS customers would then be migrated over to T-Mobile by 2015.

[via SlashGear]