Mobile carrier Sprint was understandably happy with yesterdays announcement that AT&T would be dropping it's $39 billion bid to purchase Deutsche Telekom's US subsidiary T-Mobile. The bid will result in AT&T having to shell out $4 billion to T-Mobile under the terms of the contract's cancelation agreement.
Sprint is currently the number three carrier in the US, ahead of T-Mobile and behind AT&T. The proposed merger would have placed AT&T ahead of Verizon and created the nation's largest wireless carrier. It also would have consolidated the number of major GSM providers in the United States to one. Sprint and Verizon currently utilize CDMA. Sprint had put up quite a fight, filing a lawsuit to stop the merger. Verizon had previously indicated they would not oppose the merger, having recently come off the completion of acquiring the carrier Alltel, to put them in the number one spot.
In a statement, Vonya B. McCann, senior vice president of Government Affairs for Sprint expressed the company's pleasure with the decision:
From the beginning, Sprint has stood with consumers who spoke loudly and clearly that AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile would create an undeniable duopoly that would have resulted in higher prices, less innovation and fewer choices for the American consumer.
Sprint commends the Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission and the bi-partisan group of state attorneys general who gave voice to the concerns of consumers across the country. We look forward to competing fiercely in the robust, competitive market that exists today and continuing to deliver the world class service and products that consumers have come to expect from Sprint.
Verizon has not issued any press statements about the failure of the merger.
5 Comments - Add comment