If Sprint hasn’t already solidified their position as the greatest vocal opponent to the proposed AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile, yesterday’s West Virginia filing may cement it. Sprint has asked West Virginia state regulators to review the proposed $39 billion dollar purchase with Sprint expecting to file similar requests in other states as well.
“Clearly the interest of the public in this state will be adversely affected by the proposed merger because it is anticompetitive and will hurt consumers by raising prices, restricting innovation and limiting choices of wireless providers,” Sprint said in their filing. Sprint says the state of West Virginia has a duty to make sure any deals such as this one do not harm the public interest.
AT&T has asked West Virginia to approve the deal and expressed it’s intent to bring LTE service to customers in West Virginia with more customers able to receive coverage after the deal than without it.
AT&T responded to the Sprint filing:
“AT&T is trying to bring the latest and fastest mobile Internet service to most of the citizens of West Virginia. Since Sprint is trying to stop that, we hope state officials will ask Sprint what its own plans are for bringing LTE speeds to the people of West Virginia,” J. Michael Schweder, AT&T’s president of the Mid-Atlantic region, said in a statement. “We suspect Sprint either has no such plan, or that its own plans pale in comparison to AT&T’s. In either case, we’re confident West Virginians will see Sprint’s filing for what it is–a cynical effort to hurt a competitor, even if the ones truly hurt are the many people of West Virginia who would be denied the fast mobile Internet speeds they need and want.”
Its beginning to seem as though every day brings a new chapter in the AT&T/T-Mobile saga.
P.S. I have no idea who to give credit for to the picture above, but whoever you are. you are awesome!