AT&T is up to its old tricks as it has asked a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit Cellular South has filed in order to block the proposed takeover of AT&T. AT&T argues that Cellular South’s concerns are more about blocking competition and pursuing their own interests than acting in good faith for their customers. AT&T is making the very same argument with regards to Sprint’s lawsuit attempting to block the merger claiming Sprint is also acting in their own self-interest and not those of their customer base.

AT&T revealed in their motion that Cellular South, now known as C Spire pursued private negotiations prior to their lawsuit filing where the regional carrier would support the merger if “AT&T would agree not to engage in facilities-based competition in Mississippi.” AT&T went on to further state “This inappropriate proposal confirms that what Cellular South fears is competition, not lack of competition.”

Sprint released their own statement:

“There’s nothing surprising about AT&T’s motion to dismiss this litigation. AT&T promised to take this step more than two weeks ago but only filed this motion today because it was ordered to do so by the Court.  AT&T’s motion is without merit, and Sprint will respond to it next Friday and continue to cooperate with Judge Huvelle as she seeks to efficiently try both this case and the Justice Department’s case against AT&T.”

In related news the Secretary of Justice for Puerto Rico released a statement supporting the Department of Justice’s action to block the proposed merger:

Through this action, the Department of Justice (DOJ) of Puerto Rico seeks to ensure safeguarding the benefit of a competitive market to Puerto Rican consumers. As the transaction is proposed, it would result in a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant geographic market for mobile telecommunications services, both in Puerto Rico, and the rest of the nation.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek