By Aditya Soni, Jaspreet Singh and Milana Vinn (Reuters) -Charter Communications on Friday agreed to buy privately held rival Cox Communications for $21.9 billion, combining two of the largest U.S. cable and broadband operators in their battle with streaming giants and mobile carriers.

The proposed deal comes a decade after a merger between cable giants Comcast and TWC was scrapped amid regulatory scrutiny. On Friday, cable companies Charter Communications and Cox Communications announced that they’ve agreed to merge.

Charter Communications, known more widely as Spectrum, has more than 32 million customers in 41 states. Cox is the third largest cable television company in the country, with more than 6.5 million