sprint

California attorney general joins lawsuit to block T-Mobile-Sprint deal, likely delays it indefinitely

13 June 2019 by Steve Blum
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Tmobile san francisco 18may2019

T-Mobile’s proposed merger with Sprint is “presumptively anticompetitive” according to California attorney general Xavier Becerra and eight other state attorneys general (plus their counterpart in the District of Columbia). On Tuesday, they sued the companies in a New York-based federal court with the goal of blocking the deal. The ten – all democrats – say there would be substantial damage to the market for mobile telecoms services if it goes through…

Sprint and T-Mobile are close competitors.

… More

CPUC approval of T-Mobile-Sprint deal slipping to August, if then

5 June 2019 by Steve Blum
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Caltrans slow 2

Even if the federal justice department has an Ajit Pai-like epiphany about T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint and approves the deal today – not likely – there’s diminishing hope that California’s review of the merger will wrap up before August. And the possibility of a mid-September decision is growing.

There are three structural reasons for the delay. First, the CPUC only has one voting meeting scheduled for July, on the 11th, and there’s a four week gap between the commission’s last August meeting and its first one in September.… More

Federal anti-trust staff want to block T-Mobile-Sprint merger, report says

23 May 2019 by Steve Blum
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Despite Monday’s raucous cheerleading from republican members of the Federal Communications Commission, the federal justice department is moving toward blocking T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint. According to a Reuters report, a staff review has concluded that allowing the two companies to combine, thereby reducing the competitive landscape from four nationwide mobile carriers to three, would do too much damage to the telecoms marketplace…

The U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division staff has recommended the agency block T-Mobile US Inc’s $26 billion acquisition of smaller rival Sprint Corp, according to two sources familiar with the matter…

The final decision on whether to allow two of the four nationwide wireless carriers to merge now lies with political appointees at the department, headed by antitrust division chief Makan Delrahim…

One critic of the deal, Gene Kimmelman, president of Public Knowledge, the nonprofit public interest group, said top brass in the Justice Department’s antitrust division do not generally overrule the staff but they occasionally do.

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Pai jumps in on T-Mobile’s side, CPUC and federal justice department not cheering Sprint deal yet

21 May 2019 by Steve Blum
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Tmobile san francisco 18may2019

T-Mobile threw a hail mary pass to Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai yesterday, hoping to move its proposed merger with Sprint over the regulatory approval line. Pai caught it and started running, but could be tackled short of the end zone by the justice department. And the California Public Utilities Commission’s review is still a whole ’nother ball game.

Yesterday morning began with Pai announcing that new promises from T-Mobile about divesting a down market subsidiary – Boost Mobile – and expanding rural wireless coverage led him to “believe that this transaction is in the public interest and intend to recommend to my colleagues that the FCC approve it”.… More

Soft promises, hard arguments offered for CPUC approval of T-Mobile Sprint merger

13 May 2019 by Steve Blum
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Kim putin

T-Mobile’s closing case for the California Public Utilities Commission review of its merger with Sprint boils down to trust us, it’ll be glorious. Opponents, led by the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office (PAO), say you gotta be kidding. T-Mobile (and Sprint and the California Emerging Technology Fund, but T-Mobile is the lead dog in that pack) filed final arguments on Friday, saying the CPUC should approve the merger. The PAO, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), TURN and the Greenlining Institute urged commissioners to deny it, because consumer prices will rise and rural communities will be left out, among other ills.… More

T-Mobile’s $35 million payoff to CETF was done properly and “adds weight” to its case, CPUC judge rules

10 May 2019 by Steve Blum
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Beautiful friendship

The $35 million deal to gain the California Emerging Technology Fund’s (CETF) support for T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint was done properly. That’s the ruling from Karl Bemesderfer, the administrative law judge managing the California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the transaction.

The contract, which also contains a long list of vague promises previously floated by T-Mobile, was challenged by the CPUC’s public advocates office (PAO) and two consumer groups, TURN and the Greenlining Institute.… More

T-Mobile’s merger tactics catch more heat in California

6 May 2019 by Steve Blum
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Derby referee 625

The lawyerly squabbling over T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint continues in California, with new accusations of off the record promises and a defence of a $35 million payoff to a key opponent in return for its enthusiastic and wholehearted support of the merger. Amidst a growing list of disputes in California and increasing doubt over federal approval, T-Mobile and Sprint extended their self imposed deadline for closing the transaction to 29 July 2019.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the deal could run until then.… More

“Revolutionary opportunities” or higher prices, poorer service and less rural coverage from T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint?

29 April 2019 by Steve Blum
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Maduro inaguration

California is either heading for a proletarian broadband paradise or an economic meltdown of Venezuelan proportions. Following months of testimony, document dumps and stupid lawyer tricks, on Friday the companies and their opponents laid out arguments for why the California Public Utilities Commission should or shouldn’t approve the deal.

In two separate filings, T-Mobile (and technically Sprint, but it’s T-Mobile that’s running the show) mostly reiterated the same points and pleadings they’ve been pushing since the beginning: the CPUC is sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong and the merger will benefit everyone – Californian consumers, rural communities, low income and disadvantaged people, job seekers, employees hoping to keep their jobs, and the list goes on.… More

T-Mobile, CETF slammed for $35 million deal to win approval of Sprint merger

24 April 2019 by Steve Blum
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Your winnings sir

A $35 million payoff that, um, inspired the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) to “enthusiastically and wholeheartedly support” T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint was lambasted yesterday by organisations that still oppose it. The California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office (PAO) and two advocacy organisations, TURN and the Greenlining Institute, filed objections to the agreement.

One issue in dispute is whether it is a formal settlement, which has to be negotiated and reviewed under CPUC rules, or something else.… More

T-Mobile, Sprint scramble to keep merger deal alive in California

18 April 2019 by Steve Blum
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The odds of T-Mobile getting permission from federal and California regulators to buy Sprint are getting longer. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the federal justice department is reluctant to approve the deal in its current form. That has a familiar ring to it – it was the same kind of antitrust concerns that led to the justice department and Federal Communications Commission killing Comcast’s bid to take over Time Warner’s cable systems and do market consolidating swaps with Charter in 2015.… More