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Last week Sprint CEO Dan Hesses let it be known that his company plans to challenge the sale of T-Mobile to AT&T for some $39 billion dollars, a deal that could take the greater part of a year to reach final approval. Sprint today issued a formal release detailing their disagreement with the proposed deal.
The reasoning is the same: the deal will reduce competition, limit innovation, and end up hurting consumers. All of these reasons seem pretty legitimate to us, and as Sprint points out, would go against movements throughout the past three decades to remove large monopolies such as Bell from the communications market. The final outcome will be unknown for quite some time, but you can read Sprint’s thoughts below.
Sprint Opposes Proposed AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile USA
Transaction would reduce competition and harm consumers
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), March 28, 2011 – Sprint Nextel [NYSE:S], the nation’s third largest wireless provider and a leader in advanced wireless broadband technologies, announced today its opposition to AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA.
The transaction, which requires the approval of the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission, and will likely spark a host of hearings in the U.S. Congress, would reverse nearly three decades of actions by the U.S. government and the courts that modernized and opened U.S. communications markets to competition. The wireless industry has sparked unprecedented levels of competition, innovation, job creation and investment for the American economy, all of which could be undone by this transaction.
AT&T and Verizon are already by far the largest wireless providers. If approved, the proposed acquisition would create a combined company that would be almost three times the size of Sprint in terms of wireless revenue and would entrench AT&T’s and Verizon’s duopoly control over the wireless market. The wireless industry moving forward would be dominated overwhelmingly by two vertically integrated companies with unprecedented control over the U.S. wireless post-paid market, as well as the availability and price of key inputs, such as backhaul and access needed by other wireless companies to compete.
“Sprint urges the United States government to block this anti-competitive acquisition,” said Vonya McCann, senior vice president, Government Affairs. “This transaction will harm consumers and harm competition at a time when this country can least afford it. As the first national carrier to roll out 4G services and handsets and the carrier that brought simple unlimited pricing to the marketplace, Sprint stands ready to compete in a truly dynamic marketplace. So on behalf of our customers, our industry and our country, Sprint will fight this attempt by AT&T to undo the progress of the past 25 years and create a new Ma Bell duopoly.”
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 49.9 million customers at the end of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint atwww.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
first!
Really you aren’t even first. smh at all these stupid first comments go get a girl or something.
Sprint is the worst carrier. If they are good and confident that they the latest network ..hen they should not be concerned at all.
Sprint network rusty and dying soon.
The experience is different from customer to customer…I’ve had Sprint before, and jumped to Verizon after, then went back to Sprint because of money issues. I can safely say that Sprint has better signals now, and they improved their customer service a lot.
Unfortunately this deal will probably be approved since AT&T is the only unionized carrier and this admin is very pro-union.
You hit the nail on the head.
In reality, unions are not the issue talk radio, and the Right, try to make them out to be.
If this was a Republican administration your post could just as easily say “Unfortunately this deal will probably be approved since AT&T still has to compete with Verizon and this admin is very pro big business.”
It’s a major reason why their customer service is rated the worst of all the carriers.
I’m for a competitive free market. I want to get rid of all the corporate welfare, crony capitalism and all the other protectionist stuff that the old country club Republicans supported. Every admin has its own crap to fight over.
Really? I know that’s what you might hear on the radio, but can you prove it?
Their customer service is poor because the upper (non-union) management has not made it a priority to improve. Sprint had the worst customer service for a long time until the current CEO decided to improve it. Based on your first comment, I will assume Sprint is not unionized, so their poor service was based on a company culture of not caring, the same culture that AT&T’ currently has.
If the company is unionized, it is a lot harder to change the culture.
Not sure if Sprint is union or not but I do know that they give 10% discount to union members (off equipment and plans)
I used to receive the discount and will be once again when the evo 3d comes out (or sooner if I just get completely sick of verizon)
His real problem: it would be bad for Sprint.
totally true.
But doesn’t make their points any less true either.
Of course sprint would be the smallest carrier and are already losing money and this isnt going to help any.
Good luck to Sprint … the national wireless market is simply not one anyone can “jump into”. It costs _billions_ to erect your own wireless network … and there’s just no way for a small startup to get involved anymore. I for one will be watching how things develop very carefully, and will vote accordingly.
I agree with Sprint. It would also be good if the users would step up and say something about this. What makes me laugh when I see all these commercials with T-Mobile making fun of AT&T. If you ask me I think America is going to hell in a hand basket. Us the regular user will get screwed real nice.
Totally true friend…I made a mention on the last article phandroid had and i will summarize again.
1. Bad for consumers becuz the top two are going to really fluctuate pricing.
2. To much control over GSM towers, so lets see how leasing goes for startup companies even if they attempt to exist. Stifles competition completely.
3. Might be a Sprint Verizon Merger if VZW doesnt like playing second for very long.
4. Handful of major cable/internet providers and Mobile/Wireless broadband controlled by so few means a very scary outlook and little options for the consumer to have internet. Major pricing and Major CONTROLproblem which leads me to point 5 if you know what i mean….
5. Enactment of government being able to shut communications down for the country, in case of an emergency……Oh man!! alot of us need to be paying attention over the next few years to our political leaders.
5.
#5 is precisely why I support android so much. We need total control over our ability to communicate. I don’t want the govt to have control over it, i don’t want Microsoft or Apple to have control over it and if there’s a way to mitigate Google’s control over android, I’ll be in favor of that, as well.
true but im not afraid of google doing anything. i mean for gods sakes their slogan is “dont be evil”
Theres only one way users can “say something”: switch carriers. I made a deliberate move to Sprint and avoided Verizon because i didn’t like their recent “fair internet proposals”. Now I simply have to make a similar standing against AT&T. It’s the only thing us “regular users” can really do.
I’m surprised no one is pointing out the blatant monopoly AT&T will have with respect to GSM networks in the USA.
That’s because GSM is a technology standard, not a market. You can’t have a “technology monopoly” … that’s just called a patent. As for standard … nothing is stopping anyone from using GSM … if Verizon/Sprint really wanted they could start doing it ASAP. It’s not the same thing
I’m with T-Mobile.. so I agree with sprint on this one. Fuck at&t and fuck T-Mobile for accepting their offer.
@Your Gay, there is nothing wrong with being Gay. Why don’t you think before you post material like that. Aiwl may not be gay but they are pretty stupid, I’ll give you that. Let’s all use a little sense when posting comments. By the way, I’m straight just not narrow.
You know you can send him a direct reply, we don’t need that @your gay thing anymore.
your gay for having the name “tolerance”
you realize that “Your Gay” just told us that he (or she) is OUR gay, right? LOL!
This will not be approved. The T-Mobile 4G commercials are still running knocking AT&T’S super slow speeds. If it was gonna happen all advertising like this would cease. T-Mobile will still be for sale after and if it was up to me i would love to see Google step up and take it over. Then we would have the android only network. How great would that be. I cant think of another company that has the funds and could possibly be interested in expanding to that level and the purchase would be approved. So is it possible that Google would be considering something like that? If so i doubt they would say anything about it until it falls through with at&t in hopes to pick up Tmob for less $ after. (Again this is just pure speculation or dream :-), who else would like to see Google wireless?) Phandroid should make a poll..if Google does have no interest in this maybe a big enough poll could spark some interest into the subject
I don’t know about that…up until the last minute, Alltel was running their commercials, and the next thing you know, they were absorbed by Big Red.
You are basing whether this is going to happen on ads? You need to go back to business class my friend. TMO will keep this up until the I’s are dotted, T’s are crossed, and necessary contracts signed.
No im not basing it on that…but u know the second those adds dissapear its cause att now owns…so us still seeing them is a good thing. Im basing it not happening because there is a good balance right now being 2 GSM and 2 cdma carriers and with the federal trade commission FTC, if 3rd parties like sprint oppose it and have good reasons why (which they and everyone else does) it will not be approved. I am in DC and have family in the government that know ppl in FTC who confirmed this.
I agree with the others that justifying your stance through current commercials isn’t the best approach, but I LOVE the idea of G-Mobile :). Make it happen, Google
I remember Apple ads which made fun of carriers that didn’t have simultaneous talk and surf. And now they are on verizon 3G. Ads are like politicians. You can’t trust them.
The t-mobile ads are also lame. The Verizon iPhone may be 3G only but you can get a Thunderbolt with LTE.
Completely irrelevant to what i was saying..but also the adds your reffering to with talk and surf on iPhone were nothing but attempts to boost dying iPhone sales because the whole talk and surf deal was a GSM advantage over cdma and has nothing to do with iPhone alone cause any att or T-Mobile smart phone could do it.. if that’s your selling point and paying a fortune for vzw lte just to have is rather silly.
Regardless of the carrier u have if this att T-Mobile merger does for some stupid reason happen everyone will be affected. So instead of trying to pick apart what i say. U need to be voicing how much you are against this happening. Unless ofcourse you want to stop seeing new devices every month and special price packages and quickly dropping phone prices. By all means argue with me about it.
Funny how comedians seem to cut right through the bull crap. Colbert sums it all up right here, yet he had this commentary several years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCp-1hgfxI
so FUNNY but yet so true
Is there any way I can like this multiple times? Say like maybe a 1000?
I’ve been praying for Google to buy tmobile since the G1. Please Google, save my Nexus One!
The point if business is to make money, I don’t think we should criticize tmobile and ATT for just trying to do what there supposed to do, which is make the largest profit, competition will come by itself, competition is always present
Im with tmobile and hopefully sprints efforts can stop the deal.
Look at it from tmobiles perspective, they win either way. We the people are just having to pay for the higher ups mistakes. Either this deal will cripple the wireless industry or make tmobile debt free
Sprint’s stance on this is completely selfish. It has nothing to do with overall consumers. It has to do with theirs. They will literally fall down to the crappiest “BIG” network in America. They will have the slowest speeds, least amount of coverage, and neglibible savings for the consumer. They are grasping for a reason not to be FORCED to improve their network drastically. And yes, this is coming from a Sprint customer. Am I happy with my service? Yes, but this is largely because I am a student that doesn’t travel.
I should have added that I don’t necessarily disagree with Sprint’s stance, but the influencing force behind it is surely not what they claim.
Sprints right. So many customers dont want ATT to gobble them up.
As much as I agree with “its business to make money ” I do have to agree more with sprints statement of how this move will hurt consumers now and the providers later. There are many people already with at&t and Verizon who can barely afford it and probably dozens every day dropping service due to unemployment or overall rough times. Good for ghettro but everyone gets screwed in the end because without reliable phone service it’s more difficult to find a job which will in turn help to perpetuate the economic situation we have on our hands now. Its small greedy actions like this that will bring down America really. As long as people are more in interested in making a quick buck than the long term gain we will struggle economically. I know that went off topic and is bordering on conspiracy theory talk but think about it before you call me crazy…
Another thing worth mentioning is look at the compute operating system market. It is literally Microsoft (Windows) with Apple (OSX) trailing far, FAR behind. At the end of the day I wouldn’t call those products/services unattainable by the average Joe, especially seeing as how most everyone that uses a computer has one or the other (or both)
Sprint is a pussy faggit! Scared as fucked! Lol.
You guys are all bullshit. For one when Sprint was rumored to buy it you guys were all blowing Dan hesse and he didn’t have a problem buying tmobile fuckin hypocrite. Also tmobile customers had two fuckin options either deutsche Telecom was gonna shut them down or sell them and they sold them to the company with the best plan and most promising scenario. You cry babies need to go back to econ 101 and business 101
Wasn’t T-Mobile going to file for chapter 11? I’ve been told that is done deal. AT&t will be the biggest cell company in the old U.S. an A. I guess money is everything
Pathetic Sprint CEO.
Good. Anyone that supports monopolies or even duopolies is a moron. I hope Sprint can break this little party up
Thank God this is neither imbecile
I can see what Sprint is saying, but then again they are only saying this JUST because ATT is gaining so many customers. They didn’t say anything about Alltell. I find it funny, as if Sprint were doing the same then they would htink it’s all justified
I’m thinking Sprint should prepare to roll on its belly to Verizon. That is if this deal goes through…hell they may even get 40 billion for their company…man that’s alot of money and ithought someone screwed up billion with million…lol if iwas Th mobile iwould want to sell too…
Please Google……..please buy out T-mobile!!
Sprint is a big dogg they will get what they want.bottom line
I think this will be approved, just think of: Telecommunication Act of 1996. Bam! There you go!
I have said before and I will keep saying it.. THIS MERGER WILL NOT HAPPEN PERIOD.. I applaud sprint for STICKING A KNIFE IN THE HEART OF ASS T&T.. Verizon doesn’t have the balls to stand up and be heard because they follow behind eachother like cats in heat. Sprint WINS one way or the other in this situation cause if the merger happens sprint will become the ONLY AFFORDABLE CARRIER LEFT STANDING ALL ALONE IN THE INDUSTRY and most customers currently on tmobile will come to sprint mainly for the price but also because of UNLIMITED DATA and sprints commitment to android as well as there BETTER DEVICES THAN
With Sprint’s new pricing policies they aren’t that much cheaper anymore. They can’t continue to lose money every quarter either. I don’t see them competing on price much longer- the signs are already there.
yes, is the purpose of business to make a profit. it is the responsibility of the people to find what product or service best suits their individual needs. AND it is the purpose of the govt to make sure that business don’t harm or enslave the people.
deal with probably go through, just have to wait on concessions. Sprint will probably gain some customers/access just for whining like a jilted love.
You seem to be overly in love with sprint.
You seem to be overly in love with sprint.
You seem to be overly in love with sprint.
You seem to be overly in love with sprint.