When AT&T announced its plans to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion last week, Sprint was quick to criticize the deal, saying that it would dramatically alter the structure of the communications industry and impact innovation--a sentiment that was echoed by Sprint CEO Dan Hesse during CTIA 2011.
In case its position wasn't clear, the carrier issued an official statement today to oppose the merger and announce its intentions to fight the deal.
Vonya McCann, Sprint's senior vice president of government affairs, said:
Sprint urges the United States government to block this anti-competitive acquisition. This transaction will harm consumers and harm competition at a time when this country can least afford it. As the first national carrier to roll out 4G services and handsets and the carrier that brought simple unlimited pricing to the marketplace, Sprint stands ready to compete in a truly dynamic marketplace. So on behalf of our customers, our industry and our country, Sprint will fight this attempt by AT&T to undo the progress of the past 25 years and create a new Ma Bell duopoly.
Sprint added that the merger would undo nearly three decades of work by the U.S. government to modernize and open the U.S. communications markets to competition and affect job creation and investment in the American economy.
Sitting in third position among the U.S. wireless service providers, it's also hard to ignore the fact that the merger could have a negative effect on Sprint as it tries to gain new subscribers and deal with the spectrum crisis. Despite recent effort to provide a more open experience to customers with such offerings as integrating Google Voice into its cell phones, the AT&T-T-Mobile megamerger would only make it more difficult for Sprint to compete against Verizon and AT&T.
Sprint didn't elaborate on how it plans to fight the merger, and requests for comment were not immediately returned. The merger deal between AT&T and T-Mobile deal would require the approval of the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission and the process is expected to take at least 12 months.
More to come.
Source: http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20048020-85.html#ixzz1Hvqx9c00
