Four more States stand in the way of Sprint/T-Mobile merger

With each week that passes, it seems to be getting more and more difficult for Sprint and T-Mobile US. Now, four State Attorney Generals have attempted to block the move.

Officially, the 180-day stop-clock which the FCC gives itself to approve any industry transactions has hit 202, and that doesn’t include the ‘pause’ it gave itself. And while the FCC might be taking things at a leisurely pace, it seems the Attorney General Offices around the US are building up a head-of-steam.

Two weeks ago, New York Attorney General Letitia James launched her campaign against the merger, questioning the logic and evidence used to promote the promises of increased competition, a faster 5G rollout or cheaper tariffs across the country. And she seems to have stuck a chord with counterparts in numerous other states.

Initially, James had the support of nine states, but with Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nevada adding themselves to the suit, the total number of states as plaintiffs is now fourteen.

“The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint would stifle competition, cut jobs, and harm vulnerable consumers from across the country, so unity among the states will be key in defending our citizens against this power-hungry corporate union,” James said.

“We welcome the support from these four additional states, which should serve as a reminder that, all throughout the nation, we have much to lose if we do not take action to protect our people from this megamerger.”

And while this might look bad enough for Sprint and T-Mobile executives, it could get a lot worse. Over the last couple of weeks, letters have been submitted from an additional six Attorney Generals, telling the FCC investigations have begun to check the legality of the merger. Those states yet to declare are Pennsylvania (letter submitted June 5), Arizona (June 5), Delaware (June 18), Nebraska (June 18), Indiana (June 20) and Texas (June 21).

What is worth noting is that there does seem to be somewhat of a political split in in terms of objections here. All of the 14 Attorney Generals who have joined the suit so far are sitting in the Democrat camp. Of the six who are currently conducting investigations, two more are Democrat (Delaware and Pennsylvania) while four sit in the opposing Republican party (Texas, Indiana, Nebraska and Arizona).

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is objecting on the grounds of reduced competition, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison is attempting to protect jobs and lower prices, Hawaii’s AG Clare Connors didn’t say anything, and Nevada AG Aaron Ford simply said nothing of genuine value.

The most common theme with these objections seems to be focused on the idea of competition. Although T-Mobile and Sprint argue there is a need for more competition in the market, the AGs don’t seem to think so, or at least this isn’t the way to go about it. T-Mobile CEO John Legere might condemn the ‘duopoly’ which has formed at the head of the telco rankings, however the numbers do not lie.

Coverage is increasing, ARPU is coming down and the US should have all four of the major MNOs in the 5G world before the vast majority of other nations around the world. Things could be better in this market of course, but the trends seem to be heading in the right direction. This is a point which has been raised by the AGs; if it isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it.

Unfortunately for Sprint and T-Mobile, the argument of decreasing the number of telcos to increase competition flies in the face of logic, especially when you are removing the two cheapest options from the market. Of course, telecommunications is a capital-intensive segment to operate in, scale is very important, as is access to more valuable spectrum. But, the general consensus in the telco world is more providers is a better approach not less.

There will of course be incredibly loud voices on both sides of the argument, but logic lies with the AGs here. This is not to say the FCC will agree, but overarching trends argue against the need for Sprint and T-Mobile to merge.