Sprint files suit to block AT&T's T-Mobile merger

From CNET News.com: Add Sprint to the list of big names choosing to speak now rather than hold their peace on AT&T and T-Mobile's dreams of corporate matrimony.

Saying it would violate the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, Sprint today filed a lawsuit opposing the deal before the same Washington, D.C.-based federal judge who received a related suit filed last week by the Department of Justice.

"Sprint opposes AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile," said Sprint Vice President of Litigation Susan Haller in a statement. "With today's legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal."

In a copy of the complaint obtained by CNET, Sprint claims that "AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile is brazenly anti-competitive. In one fell swoop, AT&T's proposed purchase would eliminate one of four national competitors and marginalize a second (Sprint), pushing the market back toward a 1980s-style cell phone duopoly that would force consumers to endure higher prices and be denied the fruits of vigorous innovation."

Sprint claims that AT&T's $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom would also lead to "higher prices" and harm Sprint and other small wireless carriers because a much bigger AT&T would have increased "control over backhaul, roaming and spectrum, and its increased market position to exclude competitors, raise their costs, restrict their access to handsets, damage their businesses and ultimately to lessen competition."

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