United States District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle has set a date to hear the Department of Justice Antitrust Division's challenge to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. At a hearing in Washington on September 21, Judge Huvelle announced that the DOJ's attempt to enjoin the $39 billion merger, which the DOJ contends would harm consumers, will commence on February 13. The hearing, in which the DOJ seeks to permanently enjoin the parties from consummating their merger, is expected to last up to six weeks.
As explained in the DOJ complaint, DOJ contends that AT&T and T-Mobile are two of only four "national" mobile wireless providers (the other two being Verizon Wireless and Sprint) and that collectively the "big four" provide more than 90 percent of service connections to all U.S. mobile wireless devices. If AT&T were permitted to acquire T-Mobile, the "low cost rival" of the four, consumers would likely face higher prices, less product variety and innovation, and poorer quality services, at least according to the DOJ.
Since the DOJ's filing of the action at the end of August, several states have now joined the action in seeking to have the merger enjoined, including New York, California and Illinois. Two competitors, Sprint and Cellular South, a regional wireless carrier, have also sued seeking to derail the merger, and numerous consumer groups have voiced their support for the DOJ's actions. On the other hand, those supporting the merger have also been quite vocal. In early September, 15 House Democrats signed a letter sent to President Obama expressing their dissatisfaction with the DOJ's decision to block the deal, and more recently almost 100 House Republicans did the same. Among other things, the legislators contend that AT&T has announced that the merger, if consummated, would lead to more jobs and that given the current economic climate that should carry heavy weight.
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