Sprint Urges More States to Review AT&T/T-Mobile
Sprint Nextel is urging regulators in California and West Virginia to follow Louisiana in reviewing AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. The Louisiana Public Service Commission, which opened a proceeding, is requesting information on the deal, a commission spokesman said.
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If majority of the comments appear to be negative, the staff at the Louisiana commission may recommend the agency not support the deal, the spokesman said. Ultimately the transaction is subject to approvals by federal regulators, he noted. Companies were asked to submit merger information before May 27, he said. There will then be a 15-day period for intervention comments, he said. The state commission may file its comments to the FCC and other federal regulators, but it doesn’t have the authority to block the deal, he said. Louisiana’s decision to open comments on AT&T/T-Mobile came after Sprint petitioned Louisiana state officials to investigate the deal. Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal supports the deal, he said in a letter to the FCC Thursday.
The merger would remove the country’s fourth largest national wireless provider from the market, resulting in higher prices, fewer choices, less competition and less incentive for innovation, Sprint said in its filing with the California Public Utility Commission. The carrier asked the agency to open an investigation into the transaction and to file public comments to the FCC. The deal would reduce investment and employment in the state at a time when California “struggles to regain economic momentum,” Sprint said. The carrier also attacked AT&T’s innovation, performance and service options and claimed T-Mobile is consistently ranked “much higher than AT&T in consumer satisfaction.” The commission staff is reviewing merger proposal as well as Sprint’s filings, a spokesman said. He reiterated that the CPUC chairman had proposed reviewing the merger.
AT&T fired back. Buying T-Mobile would let AT&T sell better mobile Internet services to an additional 55 million consumers throughout the country, including access to LTE for over a million more Californians, a spokeswoman said. Sprint’s letter to the CPUC “merely reiterates substantially the same unfounded accusations,” she said. The company is confident that the FCC and Department of Justice would determine that the deal is good for consumers, workers and the economy after a full review of the facts, she said.
In West Virginia, Sprint claimed AT&T already owns enough “unused” spectrum to deploy LTE throughout the state without additional spectrum from T-Mobile or any other source. AT&T had opposed to Sprint’s petition to open an investigation (CD May 17 p14). AT&T claimed Sprint has virtually no wireless presence in West Virginia. Sprint said it’s able to offer service to 65 percent of the population in the state, though it relies on wholesale partners to provision some of its service. The most effective way for the state commission to evaluate potential adverse impact on the public would be to open a proceeding, Sprint said.