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U.S. government sues to block AT&T, T-Mobile merger [updated]

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:27PM EST
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The United States government has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, saying that such a deal would “substantially lessen competition” in the U.S. wireless market. Bloomberg reports that the complaint was filed by the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday, and the government is asking for a declaration that the proposed merger would violate U.S. antitrust laws. The complaint seeks to have the deal blocked as a result. “AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market,” the U.S. said in its filing. AT&T has argued that it needs T-Mobile’s spectrum in order to improve service quality and cover the majority of the U.S. population with 4G LTE service.

UPDATE: AT&T has issued a statement in response to the DOJ lawsuit. The FCC has issued a statement as well, as has Sprint.

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Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.