Sprint Says AT&T’s T-Mobile Deal Will ‘Harm’ Industry, Users
March 28, 2011, 3:08 PM EDTBy Greg Bensinger
(Updates with comment from executive in second paragraph.)
March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Nextel Corp., the third- largest U.S. wireless provider, said AT&T Inc.’s planned $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA will damage industry competition and called on the government to block it.
“This transaction will harm consumers and harm competition at a time when the country can least afford it,” Vonya McCann, Sprint government affairs senior vice president, said today in a statement. “Sprint urges the United States government to block this anti-competitive acquisition.”
Sprint said in the statement that the industry would be dominated by two carriers, the combined AT&T-T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. AT&T said March 20 it agreed to buy T-Mobile from parent Deutsche Telekom AG, pending government approval. The deal would combine the second- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless providers.
Dan Hesse, Sprint’s chief executive officer, said last week in an interview that the Overland Park, Kansas-based carrier planned to file objections to the U.S. Congress when it begins its review of the merger.
Sprint rose 5 cents to $4.73 at 3:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. AT&T added 75 cents to $29.60.
--Editors: Ville Heiskanen, Peter Elstrom
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
