The following statement regarding the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger may be attributed to Free State Foundation President Randolph May:
“The lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of ten states to block the T-Mobile/Sprint is disappointing and misguided. It is noteworthy that all ten Attorneys General are Democrats, and that their counterparts in the other 40 states chose not to sign onto this unusual, if not unprecedented, maneuver.
Antitrust law should not be a matter of partisan politics or predilections, but rather a matter of adherence to widely accepted jurisprudential principles that know no party. The fact that all of the AGs bringing the lawsuit are Democrats is troubling but perhaps revealing.
In its essence, the principal focus of the AGs’ suit appears to rest on counting competitors rather than on assessing the impact of overall competition and consumer welfare. Because the proposed merger will make the combined T-Mobile/Sprint a stronger competitor to the top two wireless providers, it is likely to enhance competition — and consumer welfare — in the wireless market rather than reduce it. The lawsuit also errs in not taking into account the marketplace dynamics that dictate that the relevant market is broader than wireless providers only; it is a ‘ roadband' market that encompasses providers using various technological platforms, including cable, fiber, satellite, and combinations of these.
It may be that the Department of Justice itself has concerns with the proposed merger, and if so, that is the proper venue for consideration of the antitrust analysis that should take place and the state AGs surely can make their views known to the DOJ. In any event, most of the states, including those bringing suit, have little or no regulatory authority over wireless providers and little or no experience or expertise regarding the spectrum issues, including the prospects for 5G deployment, that are central to the merger’s rationale. The AGs should stand down.”
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