Structure Balance Property in mergers
In a capitalist society, businesses compete against one another in every market possible. It is a policy that constantly makes the structure of the networks of companies in the market to constantly be in an unbalanced state. Due to this, instances of the market shifting to a balanced structure occurs occasionally. When there are such instances, mergers occur.
Some companies have an edge because they arrive to the scene earlier than their competition. Such is the case with AT&T as they were the first big communication company to exist. Fortunately, they found major competition in Verizon and subsequent companies that came later, companies like Sprint and T-mobile. However, the market concentration is still high mainly with Verizon and AT&T, while the smaller companies struggle to compete. The market concentration ratio between Verizon, at&t, T-mobile, and Sprint are 35%, 33%, 18%, and 13% respectively.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/199359/market-share-of-wireless-carriers-in-the-us-by-subscriptions/
In this case, a network can be created between the four with a caveat. any company greater than 30% will be one node. With this caviat, a triangle can be formed. AT&T and Verizon are one node, T-mobile is another, and Sprint is another. A merger between Sprint and T-mobile that may occur in the possible future shows a triadic closure with one positive edge making the triangle balanced. Plus the fact that the two companies complement one another just strengthen the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” scenario
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/07/03/t-mobile-and-sprint-just-told-the-fcc-they-cant-ke.aspx