Press Release: Sprint Formally Requests FCC to Deny AT&T’s Takeover of T-Mobile

Back in March, BG broke the unexpected story and let us know that the Board of Directors of both T-Mobile USA and AT&T agreed to merge the two under AT&T. As of now, the German provider Deutsche Telekom has exclusive rights over T-Mobile USA. According to the Press Release, the deal includes in a cash-and-stock transactions currently valued at approximately $39 billion. Since the announcement, mobile users have been left with nothing but questions as to what will happen to their service. Aside from how users will be impacted by the merge, we also reported that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was going to review this deal even though the acquisition could still happen.

Well with some help to “protect consumers and the industry against precisely the kind of anti-competitive market control that will result from this transaction”, Sprint has formally requested the FCC to deny AT&T’s merge with T-Mobile. Sprint made the request in a“Petition to Deny” filed at the FCC this afternoon.

In its filing, Sprint concluded the proposed acquisition cannot be remedied through divestitures or conditions, and urged the FCC to block the proposed transaction on the following grounds:

  • The proposed T-Mobile takeover would harm the broadband economy, competition and consumers. It would reverse two decades of successful U.S. government wireless competition policy and result in higher prices for consumers in the absence of marketplace choices.
  • The proposed T-Mobile takeover would harm innovation and investment. Approval of this transaction would uniquely position the Twin Bell duopolists of AT&T and Verizon as the gatekeepers of the digital ecosystem, stifling innovation and choice in new devices and applications, and the capital markets that fund them.
  • The proposed T-Mobile takeover has no public interest benefit. The transaction would do nothing to relieve AT&T’s purported spectrum congestion. AT&T is already the largest holder of licensed spectrum and unused spectrum and has simply failed to upgrade or invest sufficiently in its network. Moreover, AT&T does not need T-Mobile to expand its LTE network to reach 97 percent of all Americans, because its current spectrum holdings and network already reach approximately 97 percent of the population.

Full Press Release here

“Petition to Deny” here