Sprint today announced that it was suing AT&T and T-Mobile USA along with Deutsche Telekom to block the two from merging in a US$39 billion deal.
“Sprint opposes AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile,” said Susan Z. Haller, vice president-Litigation, Sprint. “With today’s legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.”
Sprint contends that the merger (which it calls a takeover) would cause higher prices and less innovation, would allow the merged company to control three quarters of the wireless market and 90 percent of the profits, and harm Sprint and other independent wireless carriers by limiting volume discounts on new devices, reducing competition for new customers and raising their costs (including acquisition of new spectrum).
Sprint’s lawsuit follows comments opposing the acquisition and its request to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block it.
Last week, the US government filed a similar lawsuit, indicating that the deal would violate US antitrust law and would “substantially lessen competition” in the US wireless market.