Sprint Nextel has formally asked U.S. regulators to block AT&T Inc's proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA, saying the deal "has no public interest benefit" and would harm competition.
Sprint -- the most vocal opponent of the massive deal that would create a new leader in the U.S. wireless market -- said that even if the Federal Communications Commission forced AT&T to divest assets, it would not be enough.
"The proposed transaction would produce no tangible public interest benefits and would impose serious anti-competitive harms that cannot be remedied through divestitures or conditions," Sprint said on Tuesday, the deadline for initial responses to AT&T's application to the FCC.
Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile operator, argued that the deal would raise prices for consumers, and disputed AT&T's argument that it needs T-Mobile USA's spectrum.
Rather than needing more spectrum Sprint said AT&T "simply failed to upgrade or invest sufficiently in its network" and argued that AT&T already has enough spectrum to cover 97 percent of Americans with high-speed wireless services.
Another Sprint argument is that smaller companies would have less power to moderate service pricing after the deal as the two top carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, would then control about 80 percent of the market.
T-Mobile USA is a unit of Deutsche Telekom. Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.
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