Nine states subpoena Sprint over opposition to AT&T’s T-Mobile acquisition

By on Jul 12, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Business July 12, 2011

Sprint has received subpoenas from Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington regarding its opposition of AT&T’s planned $39 billion T-Mobile USA acquisition, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division also issued a subpoena. Sprint has been a staunch opponent of the deal and its CEO Dan Hesse has said the acquisition will “stifle innovation” in the U.S. wireless market. He also said that “clearly, purely, [Sprint wants] to win and block the merger,” when it was revealed that Hesse was working with 18 state regulators to block the acquisition. The deal is getting an in-depth investigation from both the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. On June 22nd, AT&T’s General Counsel Wayne Watts said that the acquisition was on schedule for approval in March of next year. An AT&T spokesperson told Reuters that AT&T also received the same nine subpoenas.

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  • Anonymous

    Sprint wouldn’t care if they had more customers. This isn’t a matter of doing something good, it’s a matter of Sprint being afraid they can’t compete when customers can clearly choose between two decent networks, and their own. 

    I don’t know about you, but I never had a good experience with Sprint, and I’ve heard a lot of friends complain about it. 

    • Boredsysadmin

      Sir, you are aftro turfer. Get a life

    • Anonymous

      That was sprint of the past dude. In the past 5-6 years Sprint has actually stepped their game up and provide good service. 

    • Anonymous

      That’s right. You don’t know about me. Been with Sprint in LA for a year. Have signal everywhere and I’ve only had 1 dropped call while paying $70 a month for unlimited everything.  Oh and I get to upgrade my phone every year.

      Sprint is awesome. 

      • http://profiles.google.com/the1aboveall James Padilla

        Same here, though I’ve been with Sprint for a few years.  No complaints on dropped calls, unlimited data I can eat up.  Free calls to any cellular phone, unlimited text…every year a new phone.  My wife and I just got EVO 3D’s for $40 each through Radio Shacks trade-in program. 

        Again no complaints here…now if we can just get the iPhone here.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Hernandez/5708178 Jonathan Hernandez

        actually, if you are on the $70 plan you no longer get yearly upgrades, this will be your last one and you have to ask them to restore it.

      • Anonymous

        Nay. I believe it used to be $150 off, now they’ve made that $75 off if you’re under a certain price (AKA me).

        It is still an upgrade, and I was lucky enough to call the Sprint store and the guy tell me the next time I want an upgrade that he will give me the $150 off. (This was the guy who set up my phone).

        Sprint is also the easiest company I’ve ever had to deal with btw. They gave me a free Airave (which is an in home 3G modem) and all I have to do is pay $5 bucks a month and I get unlimited data/minutes on that as well. Other companies make you pay more, plus for the device itself.

      • Cellularghost

        O really? Last time I checked GOLD premiere could still upgrade every year, reguardless of plan.

    • Anonymous

      Wow, really great response douche.

      So why not just let the AT&T/T-Mobile merger happen, then after that, merge AT&T and Verizon to have a giant singular GSM/CDMA carrier?

      Then Sprint would definitely be afraid of competing with a 80′s era power-monopoly carrier.

    • JK

      if this was 2005 you might have a case, but Sprint has upped its game, were actually #1 in Customer Service recently

    • Notorious1976

      Oh you must be getting ducked in the ass by Verizon or giving free blow jobs to ATT!!!

    • Calvin.Shumaker

      I love my Sprint.  My EVO is the centerpiece of my Entertainment, Communication, and Internet needs.   Rarely get dropped calls, I live in an area that has decent 4g coverage, and Sprint has always taken care of me when I need them.  I use a lot of data, close to 6 GB/month and I can’t afford the surcharges that AT&T and Verizon would charge after 2GB, and the throttling of speeds on TMobile’s  so called unlimited plan would frustrate me.  If Sprint emphasizes their only true unlimited plans, continues to expand their 4G coverage and succeeds in getting the Iphone 5,   There should be significant gains in Sprint’s position.

    • Calvin.Shumaker

      I love my Sprint.  My EVO is the centerpiece of my Entertainment, Communication, and Internet needs.   Rarely get dropped calls, I live in an area that has decent 4g coverage, and Sprint has always taken care of me when I need them.  I use a lot of data, close to 6 GB/month and I can’t afford the surcharges that AT&T and Verizon would charge after 2GB, and the throttling of speeds on TMobile’s  so called unlimited plan would frustrate me.  If Sprint emphasizes their only true unlimited plans, continues to expand their 4G coverage and succeeds in getting the Iphone 5,   There should be significant gains in Sprint’s position.

  • Anonymous

    Dreams over bro. T-Mo will be one with AT&T. AT&T has greased all the palms it needs to get the okay for this and if it hasnt it will. Sucks because i like T-Mo and want to have a sim card. I will most likely be switch to Sprint at some point.

    • http://www.facebook.com/tortillaman Nicholas Guyadeen

      The reason for this buy over is so that they can increase service everywhere and help with their 4G LTE Rollout 

      • Anonymous

        1)Less competition will always hurt the consumer. What do you think is going to happen to prices when the two most expensive companies control 80% of the market?
        2)Why not use that money to build their network? a crappy company with a crappy network buys another company to add to its network will help but ultimately wont solve the crappy business decisions that AT&T has made to get themselves in their current crappy network problem. Also buying T-Mo wouldnt produced any results for the next 5 years analyst have said.
        3)they are just reassembling the company that was broken up 20 – 30 years ago to be broken up again. Its stupid.

    • Usmeagle

      its unfortunate that this mergere will probably go thru but will probably get the ok from the government.  I really dont care which carrier you have but its funny i have Sprint and sit in the same office with 2 other folks who have ATT and they get dropped calls on a daily basis and i have perfect reception in the same area. 

  • Anonymous

    I agree with sprint…we sure don’t want to stifle all of that “innovation” that the US wireless market is experiencing. 

    /s

  • I HATE AT & T

    wait wait wait didnt they disband ATT for gobbling up everything already?  Seems that they are at it once again!!!!!!

    Adding to that , I sure do hope those greedy mofos get rejected. I love Tmobile and cant stand the crap service from ATT. I just dont understand why they cost more when everything else sucks! WHere is all their money going to?

    UGH!

    • F1

       Where is all their money going to?

      You ask?

      You shall receive!

      Thank You

      BRIEFMOBILE  June 26th 2011

      AT&T donated to ALL Congressmen   
      AT&T Donates to Congress
      Awhile back it was found that AT&T was already giving incentives to non-profit organizations. Now the “Center for Responsive Politics” has released that AT&T gave a total of $3,595,964 to Congress. Some of the people who received money from AT&T are not even a Congressman, for example Charlie Christ (I-FL) received the third most with $22,100, but didn’t win his election.
      The list is 7 pages long on the “Center for Responsive Politics’” web site. Most notable on the list are Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), who received the most at $77,300. Majority Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid (D-NV), received $36,150. Let us note that the donations occurred in 2010, but this only means that AT&T was just trying to get Congress on their side from the get go. And if it doesn’t mean that, then why was so much money given to so many people? The list literally goes on and on and it seems to include everyone in the House and Senate, give or take a few. For a list of the top recipients and a link to the full list, click past the break.
      Boehner, John (R-OH)House$77,300Reid, Harry (D-NV)Senate$36,150Crist, Charlie (I-FL)Senate$22,100Harper, Gregg (R-MS)House$15,000Kirk, Mark (R-IL)House$15,000Wilson, Joe (R-SC)House$14,750Olson, Pete (R-TX)House$14,000McNerney, Jerry (D-CA)House$12,750Fleming, John (R-LA)House$12,500Luetkemeyer, Blaine (R-MO)House$12,500McClintock, Tom (R-CA)House$12,500Boyd, Allen (D-FL)House$12,000Coakley, Martha (D-MA)Senate$12,000Dahlkemper, Kathleen (D-PA)House$12,000Hill, Baron (D-IN)House$12,000Hoyer, Steny H (D-MD)House$12,000Smith, Lamar (R-TX)House$12,000Blunt, Roy (R-MO)House$11,500Guthrie, Steven Brett (R-KY)House$11,500Scott, David (D-GA)House$11,500Roskam, Peter (R-IL)House$11,350Bishop, Sanford D Jr (D-GA)House$11,250Lance, Leonard (R-NJ)House$11,200Carter, John (R-TX)House$11,000Djou, Charles (R-HI)House$11,000Edwards, Chet (D-TX)House$11,000Hensarling, Jeb (R-TX)House$11,000McHenry, Patrick (R-NC)House$11,000Portman, Rob (R-OH)Senate$11,000Reichert, Dave (R-WA)House$11,000Sanchez, Loretta (D-CA)House$11,000Upton, Fred (R-MI)House$11,000Frelinghuysen, Rodney (R-NJ)House$10,800Cantor, Eric (R-VA)House$10,750Bachmann, Michele (R-MN)House$10,550Sessions, Pete (R-TX)House$10,544Ayotte, Kelly A (R-NH)Senate$10,500Bishop, Timothy H (D-NY)House$10,500Bonner, Jo (R-AL)House$10,500Butterfield, G K (D-NC)House$10,500Clay, William L Jr (D-MO)House$10,500Clyburn, James E (D-SC)House$10,500Costa, Jim (D-CA)House$10,500Cox, Clay (R-GA)House$10,500Gonzalez, Charlie A (D-TX)House$10,500McCain, John (R-AZ)Senate$10,500Price, Tom (R-GA)House$10,500Baca, Joe (D-CA)House$10,250Boozman, John (R-AR)House$10,250Dingell, John D (D-MI)House$10,250Halvorson, Deborah (D-IL)House$10,250Hoeven, John (R-ND)Senate$10,250Ross, Mike (D-AR)House$10,250Toomey, Pat (R-PA)Senate$10,250Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana (R-FL)House$10,200Source: Center for Responsive Politics

    • Drew

      Where is all their money going to? To the hookers and lobbyist that must be paid off for things like class-action lawsuits and mergers and such… Network took a dump 3yrs ago and they sat on their asses and did NOTHING!!

  • Steve Lee

    I’m sure people have different experience with “Sprint” for someone they can be great(local reception,Rate), for someone they can be the worst company(reception). It’s a known fact that sprint does not have most coverage and best phone service in us. When I use to stay in Hawaii back in 2001 they are the only company that worked for me. But now I’m with at&t for my reasons.
    Anyway, its clear that Sprint is afraid of T-mobile usa and at&t merge. Maybe not right away but possible lost of their customers and number of customer going to “at&t-mobile” is unpredictable. Many may stay with Sprint but may will move as well. Right now Verizon is the Big brother soon Sprint will have 2 Big brothers and its obious for Sprint they do not want to get bully by 2 big brothers.

  • vfnovihtrg

    Im i too out there to think that the reason that Sprint is affriad of the merge is because they might just be next… Sprint/Verizon??

  • Anonymous

    I got your back Dan if you need another lawyer in your corner.  You couldn’t be more right. 

  • Anonymous

    If Dan knows what’s good for him his testimony would be limited to ” True Unlimited Everything Bitches!” then throw up deuces as he walks out of the courtroom…………

  • Anonymous

    SO I’m with Sprint.  I am in bum frackt Alaska.  Their service works up here (piggy backing local service) and it’s even NON roaming!  Their rates absolutely, positively cannot be matched.  Before that, I was with with AT&T.  Before that, it was Cellular One.  Which was a regional carrier.  Not bad, and good enough for what I needed.  Then AT&T came along, bought them out and things got more expensive, no more unlimited data, and worst of all, what was once a decent service center, turned into dumb frack central.  Customers know more about their phones now then ANY tech or service rep there!  It used to be the other way around.

    I just don’t understand how so many people think that taking one more option away from the consumer is a good thing. It is not.

    Another thing to consider.  If it weren’t for T-Mobile, Android would likely not have taken off as well as it did.  T-Mobile was an agile enough company to innovate their phone portfolio with Android and helped kick off what is now one of the biggest juggernauts in the Mobile OS world.  Yes, the SMALLEST carrier in the US practically spawned Android and help make it mainstream.  AT&T?  Zilch.

    So yeah, root for this merger.  Just don’t expect any better service, don’t expect any further innovation and don’t expect to have more options available to you once it does go through.

  • Anonymous

    If Sprint had SIM-based HSPA service, they’ll be the biggest winner.

  • Shredsnow17

    Why is the title of this article “Nine states subpoena Sprint over opposition to AT&T’s T-mobile acquisition?” It’s not until the last sentence that you bother to mention that AT&T also received subpoenas from the same 9 states.

    • Jouten

      Probably a test to see if you read the article before making a comment? Them BGR peeps can be sneaky like that.

  • DaughertyEdwin

    “That was sprint of the past dude. In the past 5-6 years Sprint has actually stepped their game up and provide good service.”

    I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, RawCent.cöm

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