US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has formally requested the FCC to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA. In a filing to the telecoms regulator, Sprint said the deal would: harm the “broadband economy”; harm innovation and investment in the economy;…
US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has formally requested the FCC to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA.
In a filing to the telecoms regulator, Sprint said the deal would: harm the “broadband economy”; harm innovation and investment in the economy; and have “no public interest benefit”.
It suggested that the deal would leave AT&T and Verizon Wireless as an effective duopoly, describing them as “Twin Bells”, a reference to the “Ma Bell” situation in the 1980s, where the old AT&T was broken up in order to improve competition.
Sprint said in its statement: “The transaction would harm consumers, competition and the American economy as the Twin Bells would not be deterred from increasing prices and reducing consumer choice in wireless devices, applications and services where they control approximately 80% of the wireless industry revenue.”
Its advisor for government affairs, Vonya McCann, said that the deal left the mobile industry at a crossroads.
She said: “We can choose the open, competitive road best travelled, and protect American consumers, innovation and our economy, or we can choose the dead end that merely protects only AT&T and leads the rest of us back down the dirt road back to Ma Bell.”
In response, AT&T said that many community and civic organisations had voiced their support for the deal, as well as some unions and congress members.
It also said that it anticipated additional support from other voices that recognised the “tremendous benefits” that came from spreading broadband coverage to over 97% of the population, as well as improving call quality and network performance for customers.
AT&T’s senior VP for external and legislative affairs, James Cicconi, said: “Sprint is confusing the public interest with their interest. The two are not the same.”