South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
State AGs sprinting to block T-Mobile-Sprint deal in court
Uber noted drivers also were attacked, and some assaults occurred between riders.
NEW YORK — A highdrama telecom deal is heading to court.
T-Mobile, in its attempt to buy Sprint for $26.5 billion, has already notched approvals from key federal regulators. Now it must convince a federal judge that the 14 state attorneys general suing to stop the deal are wrong.
A trial starts Monday in U.S. District Court in New York and is expected to last several weeks.
If T-Mobile prevails, the number of major U.S. wireless companies would shrink to three from four. A combined T-Mobile-Sprint would become a fiercer competitor to larger Verizon and AT&T.
But the states argue that having one fewer mobile carrier would reduce competition and cost Americans billions of dollars in higher phone bills.
T-Mobile and Sprint provide cheaper alternatives to Verizon and AT&T, and T-Mobile has branded itself the “Un-carrier,” one that has made consumerfriendly changes such as bringing back unlimiteddata plans and shattering two-year service contracts. There are concerns that less competition would put an end to these types of changes, but T-Mobile says that won’t happen.
The deal got the nod from both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission, thanks to T-Mobile’s unusual commitment to create a brand-new mobile carrier in a deal with satellite-TV company Dish.
T-Mobile agreed to sell millions of customers to Dish and to rent its network to the fledgling rival while it built its own. Absent that arrangement, the Justice Department said, the deal would have been bad for consumers. Dish would start providing cellphone
If T-Mobile prevails in buying Sprint, the number of major U.S. wireless companies would shrink to three from four.
service after buying Sprint’s current prepaidservice business.
Dish is also required to build a faster, next-generation network, known as 5G, over the next several years.
The states says the Dish fix isn’t good enough. In a court filing, lawyers argued that T-Mobile and Sprint shouldn’t be allowed to combine “based on the hope that Dish will one day grow into a viable wireless company equal to a competitor that already exists today.”
T-Mobile, which promised not to raise prices for three years, defends its deal as good for competition. It repeats previous arguments that the combined T-Mobile and Sprint will be able to build a better 5G network — a priority for the Trump administration — than either company could manage on its own.
The states’ challenge is led by New York and California and includes counterparts from 11 other states and the District of Columbia.
Texas, Nevada, Colorado and Mississippi have dropped out over the past two months after reaching separate settlements in which T-Mobile typically promised 5G service in the states and steady prices or low-price options.
But analysts say their
withdrawal won’t matter, as it takes only one state to see the case to completion.
“We’ve made it pretty clear we’re committed to take this all the way,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in an interview Friday. He said that he’s “never closed the door” to a settlement with the companies, although he declined to specify what conditions that would require of T-Mobile.
Although it’s unusual for states to try to block a deal already approved by the federal government, experts note that states in recent years have been playing a bigger role in antitrust enforcement. They have gone after generic drug makers and hit tech companies with their own investigations.
“The states have going for them a pretty clear, straightforward application of the antitrust laws,” said Jeffrey Blattner, a former Justice Department official who now teaches at the University of Colorado. “The states have the wind at their back in terms of the law. How the facts play out, we’ll find out in the courtroom.”
T-Mobile is arguing that consumers will benefit from the stronger network it will create and cost cuts after the merger, which will let it keep prices low.