Sprint Must Wear Its ‘Customer Hat’ To Stay In AT&T Case

Sprint’s lawsuit to stop the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile went before a federal judge October 24.

One antitrust expert explains why Sprint may be on a legal limb and what it must do to avoid having the case tossed out of court. According to Washington lawyer, Andre Barlow, Sprint faces a few hurdles in persuading the judge not to grant AT&T’s petition to dismiss the case. The main problem for Sprint is that the country’s anti-trust laws are designed to protect consumers not competitors. This has led AT&T to argue that its rival lacks standing to even bring the lawsuit in the first place. To get around the problem of standing, Sprint must show that it is challenging the merger not as a competitor but as a customer in its own right. “Sprint is coming in with its customer hat and saying ‘AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile will raise our roaming and our backhauling charges’,” said Barlow, referring to two forms of services that one phone company can charge another for using its network. The judge is expected to rule in coming weeks over whether Sprint, which filed the lawsuit on September 9, can remain a part of the litigation.