New York Attorney General Letitia James and her Connecticut counterpart William Tong expressed disappointment after a federal judge rejected their efforts to halt the proposed merger between telecom giants T-Mobile and Sprint.
The attorneys general were part of a 10-state coalition objecting to the $26 billion merger, which had federal approval. U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero gave the merger the green light, stating, “The court concludes that the proposed merger is not reasonably likely to substantially lessen competition.”
James, who led the lawsuit in conjunction with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, argued that the union of the two companies was the worst possible news for consumers.
“From the start, this merger has been about massive corporate profits over all else, and despite the companies”™ false claims, this deal will endanger wireless subscribers where it hurts most: their wallets,” she said in a statement.
“There is no doubt that reducing the mobile market from four to three will be bad for consumers, bad for workers, and bad for innovation, which is why the states stepped up and led this lawsuit. We disagree with this decision wholeheartedly, and will continue to fight the kind of consumer-harming megamergers our antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”
“This is just one more instance where families are going to be asked to pay more for less, where American workers will lose their jobs to fatten the paychecks of corporate executives,” added Tong. “I continue to believe we had an obligation to file this lawsuit on behalf of consumers who will be harmed by the substantial loss of competition in this industry.”
Both James and Tong stated they were reviewing the possibility of appealing the court”™s decision.
