AT&T offers to sell assets to Sprint in bid to win T-Mobile deal approval

AT&T has approached several U.S. wireless carriers offering to sell assets, spectrum and wireless subscribers in an effort to win the government’s blessing for its planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA, Bloomberg reported on Monday. MetroPCS, Leap Wireless, CenturyLink, Dish Network and Sprint were among the the companies approached in the private talks. AT&T’s move is no doubt a response to recent lawsuits that were filed by the Department of Justice and Sprint. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on August 31st in an attempt to block the merger, which it said would “remove a significant competitive force from the market.” Seven U.S. states also joined the DOJ’s suit last week. Sprint sued on September 6th and said the merger would “stifle innovation” in the U.S. wireless market. AT&T’s discussions to sell assets may not be enough to sway the Department of Justice in AT&T’s favor and the talks are still preliminary, Bloomberg said.

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