The CFO of Sprint Corporation Joe Euteneuer has said that the US mobile market would be more competitive if the number of major players fell from four to three. Euteneuer’s comments, made at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference, echo those made…
The CFO of Sprint Corporation Joe Euteneuer has said that the US mobile market would be more competitive if the number of major players fell from four to three.
Euteneuer’s comments, made at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference, echo those made earlier this week by the CFO of T-Mobile US, Braxton Carter, who made the same case.
When asked about a potential merger between the two operators, Euteneuer said: “When you think about it from a macro perspective in the industry and you look at the imbalance of the size and scale of AT&T and Verizon versus the rest of us, there is no doubt in my mind that when you look at [comparable] industries when you get down to three comparable size players you get much more effective competition.”
Both AT&T and Verizon Wireless have well over 100 million mobile customers, streets ahead of other players in the field. Even if Sprint and T-Mobile were to merge their combined subscriber base would not cross the 100 million threshold.
Euteneuer said whether a deal was done would depend on the regulators, and crucially the opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The antitrust authority effectively blocked a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile in 2011. However, this year it has allowed Sprint to consolidate Clearwire Corporation and T-Mobile to take over MetroPCS. Whether it could stomach seeing the number of national mobile players in the country fall, from four to three, remains to be seen.
AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson said earlier this week at the conference that he did not expect the DOJ to allow such a move in the next three years, while President Obama remains in office.
Stephenson said the DOJ’s attempts to block the proposed merger between US Airways and American Airlines should dispel any ideas that it would allow any further consolidation in wireless any time soon.
