Nine Democrats in the US Senate have called for the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission to block T-Mobile US's planned takeover of Sprint, Cnet reports. The Senators wrote to the two bodies that will decide on regulatory clearance for the merger ahead of hearings in Congress on the deal.
The senators said the merger reducing the US to three from four mobile networks is "likely to raise prices for consumers, harm workers, stifle competition, exacerbate the digital divide, and undermine innovation." Signatories include presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Cory Booker of New Jersey, as well as Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Congressional hearings
The letters come the day before T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure are set to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the merger. The House Judiciary Committee will hold a separate hearing on the merger the following day, when the executives are also expected to testify.
In prepared testimony published before the hearing, Legere defended the deal, saying the merger is necessary to support the US's lead in 5G networks and help T-Mobile compete with rivals AT&T and Verizon. In addition, the company can offer an alternative to the expensive broadband services from cable operators. The merged company "will offer a much faster, broader, and deeper network and new services at lower prices", the CEO said.
Legere also confirmed that the company does not and will not use network equipment from the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, which have been under suspicion in the US for a too-close cooperation with Chinese state intelligence services.
Legere and Claure will not be the only ones testifying at the hearings. The public interest group Public Knowledge will argue that the proposed merger is "a bad deal for consumers, competition, and America’s wireless future". It expects the merger will lead to higher mobile prices and "fail to deliver any verifiable or merger-specific benefits".
More industry opposition
Meanwhile, another industry group has also come out against the deal. Incompas, a group that represents alternative operators and counts Sprint and T-Mobile among members, said it could not support the merger as it sees negative consequences for the wholesale market. The group expects that T-Mobile could raise prices for resellers and wholesale partners in order to offset its pledge of not raising retail prices. Incompas will join the 4Competition Coalition set up earlier to unite groups opposed to the merger.
