Don’t trust the US gov’t, states tell court in T-Mobile/Sprint merger case

Enlarge / The logo of Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile, seen at Mobile World Congress in February 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )

The United States government approved the T-Mobile/Sprint merger without fully investigating whether the deal's anti-competitive harms can be offset by merger conditions, state attorneys general argued in a court filing.

The US Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission both found that the merger would harm consumers, a group of states that are trying to block the merger pointed out in a court filing last week. The DOJ and FCC approved the deal with conditions they claim will make the merger good for consumers, but the states say both US agencies failed to properly evaluate whether the conditions are likely to achieve that goal.

The US approved the merger on the conditions that the merging companies deploy 5G nationwide and sell spectrum licenses and other assets to Dish Network to help Dish create a new mobile service. With states having sued the companies to block the merger, the DOJ and FCC last month urged the court to reject the lawsuit and trust the federal government's conclusions.

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