Opposition to T-Mobile-Sprint merger builds

Altice, DISH, and the Rural Wireless Association urged the FCC to deny the T-Mobile-Sprint merger in petition to deny comments. All three comments told the Commission that moving from four national wireless carriers to three would harm consumers -- an argument that has been persuasive to regulators at the FCC and the DOJ in the past.

“T-Mobile has neglected rural America for over 20 years,” the Rural Wireless Association said in its comments. “T-Mobile will frequently enter only into unilateral roaming agreements under which the rural carrier’s subscribers can roam on T-Mobile’s network, but with no possibility of T-Mobile’s subscribers roaming on the rural carriers’ network -- even where T-Mobile’s network is substandard or non-existent.”

Public and consumer interest groups -- including Free Press, Common Cause, Consumers Union, Public Knowledge, the Open Technology Institute, and others -- submitted comments opposing the merger as well.

These petitions to deny follow an extensive filing from the Communications Workers of America warning that the T-Mobile-Sprint merger will cost 28,000 jobs and arguing that it should be opposed as currently structured.

Links:

Petition to Deny of Free Press (Free Press, Aug. 27, 2018)

Petition to Deny of Common Cause, Consumers Union, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, and Writers Guild of America, West, Inc. (Common Cause et al., Aug. 27, 2018)

Altice, Dish, RWA all oppose Sprint/T-Mobile US merger (RCR Wireless, Aug. 29, 2018)

CWA to FCC: Proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger will cost 28,000 jobs, should be opposed as currently structured (Speed Matters, Aug. 28, 2018)