Sprint has formally requested that the FCC block AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile USA. In its "Petition to Deny" filed with the FCC, Sprint said the proposed acquisition cannot be remedied through divestitures or conditions imposed by the regulator. Sprint claims the deal would harm "the broadband economy, competition and consumers", reversing recent successful regulatory policies in the industry, raising prices and reducing consumer choice. The takeover would also "harm innovation and investment", allowing AT&T and Verizon to act as "the gatekeepers of the digital ecosystem, stifling innovation and choice in new devices and applications, and the capital markets that fund them", Sprint said. Furthermore, the proposed T-Mobile takeover "has no public interest benefit". Sprint claims the deal "would do nothing to relieve AT&T's purported spectrum congestion", as AT&T is already the largest holder of licensed spectrum and has "simply failed to upgrade or invest sufficiently in its network". Furthermore AT&T's current spectrum holdings will already allow it to reach its target of LTE coverage for 97 percent of the population. Sprint said that AT&T should take the money it's spending on T-Mobile and instead invest in its own network, rather than trying to eliminate competition. The public interest groups Public Knowledge and the Future of Music Coalition also filed their opposition to the takeover with the FCC. Earlier the smaller mobile operator Leap Wireless also came out against the transaction.
