States Sue To Block T-Mobile-Sprint Deal: 'Bigger Isn't Always Better'

New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a multistate lawsuit with eight other state attorneys general Tuesday to block the proposed $26-billion merger of telecom giants T-Mobile TMUS and Sprint S.

“When it comes to corporate power, bigger isn’t always better,” James said in a statement. 

“The T-Mobile and Sprint merger would not only cause irreparable harm to mobile subscribers nationwide by cutting access to affordable, reliable wireless service for millions of Americans, but would particularly affect lower-income and minority communities here in New York and in urban areas across the country. That’s why we are going to court to stop this merger and protect our consumers, because this is exactly the sort of consumer-harming, job-killing megamerger our antitrust laws were designed to prevent.” 

In May, with the deal yet to be formally approved by the Federal Communications Commission, it was reported the two companies will be required to draft an order, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

A number of issues have arose from the deal, and it also hit a snag in April when the DoJ’s antitrust division expressed concerns with the planned all-stock deal that would combine the nation’s third- and fourth-largest mobile carriers.

Sprint shares were trading down by 4.43 percent to $6.68 at the time of publication Tuesday, while T-Mobile shares were down 1.79 percent at $75.30. 

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