A T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Would Destroy Wireless Competition, Kill Jobs and Harm Low-Income Families

No one but Donald Trump’s pals on Wall Street wants to see this competition-killing, investment-killing and job-killing merger. There is no rational justification for T-Mobile to take over Sprint and remove yet another consumer choice from the marketplace. It’s motivated by pure greed and a desire to reach deeper into people’s wallets.

What’s obvious about the wireless market is that customers benefit most when the government has the wisdom to block such mergers. Competition driven by the smaller carriers is finally starting to pay off for consumers, but this merger would halt all that. The competition between T-Mobile and Sprint is particularly important for lower-income families who favor these carriers over AT&T and Verizon. Many people in these households rely on mobile as their only internet connection. If T-Mobile and Sprint merge, prices will spike and the digital divide will widen. The legal standard for approving giant mergers like this is not whether Wall Street likes it. Communications mergers must enhance competition and serve the public interest. This deal would do just the opposite: It would destroy competition and harm the public in numerous irreversible ways. So unless Ajit Pai wants his tenure at the FCC to go down as the worst for consumers in the agency’s 83-year history, the chairman should speak out and show us he’s willing to do more than rubber-stamp any harmful deal that crosses his desk.