Sprint Nextel urged regulators to block AT&T Inc.’s $39 billion bid to buy Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA.
Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile carrier, said in a statement Monday that the transaction would harm consumers and competition.
“Sprint will fight this attempt by AT&T to undo the progress of the past 25 years and create a new Ma Bell duopoly,” said Vonya McCann, Sprint’s senior vice president of government affairs.
Sprint faces tough competition from its two bigger rivals, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc. The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. operator, would leapfrog Verizon Wireless as market leader.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department are expected to take at least a year to review the proposed merger.
