Making Case for T-Mobile Deal, Sprint Says Its Customers Are Fleeing

Sprint is unable to recover from crippling losses and has told regulators its purchase by T-Mobile would set up a stronger competitor to wireless leaders AT&T and Verizon. Customers are fleeing the smallest of the big four US nationwide providers at an increasing rate, Sprint told the Federal Communications Commission in a Sept. 21 meeting. Revenue is dropping and the company can’t cut much more after eliminating about $10 billion in annual costs. The decline means Sprint can’t afford needed investments, according to the filing. Sprint’s commentary is at odds with the brighter picture the company described in Aug. The company posted its 12th straight quarter of growth in phone subscribers, a winning streak AT&T can’t match. There’s a “tension” between what the company is telling regulators in Washington and what it is telling Wall Street, said Blair Levin, a Washington-based adviser to New Street Research. This tactic isn’t unheard of, he said. As a strategy, presenting a dire picture doesn’t carry any real legal weight in this case, Levin says. “But as a practical matter, this kind of argument is helpful in moving officials toward a yes.”