Verizon and Sprint executives on Tuesday danced around the topic of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Orlando, though Sprint's Dan Hesse did express some concern about the deal.
"In my view, yes, I am concerned about it," Hesse, Sprint's CEO, said during a panel discussion with AT&T and Verizon. "If you look at wireless subscribers and post-paid [users], today the big two have 67 percent market share. If [the deal] is allowed to proceed it would be 79 percent market share."
"I do have concerns that it would stifle innovation and that too much power would be in the hands of two," Hesse continued.
Ultimately, however, "my opinion doesn't matter; I think the FCC and the DOJ will have something to say about that," Hesse said.
Dan Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, was a bit more coy. "We're certainly very interested in what's going on, and we're going to be observers," he said. "We'll be watching what goes on here, there may be things market-by-market that are of interest, but we're very, very confident in our position. We're not going to get distracted by this."
When asked if Verizon considered buying T-Mobile, Mead said Verizon "didn't think through that; we didn't think there was a need."
"We've been through a series of great acquisitions ... and we're extremely confident of where we're at," Mead continued.
On Monday, Mead told Reuters that Verizon also has no interest in buying Sprint. "We're not interested in Sprint. We don't need them," he said.
AT&T shocked the tech world Sunday afternoon when it announced that it would acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion. Regulators in Congress have promised to take a close look at the deal, which will likely be under review by the FCC and the DOJ.
Sprint has already commented publicly on the deal, arguing that it would "alter dramatically the structure of the communications industry," but Verizon has not yet issued a statement. T-Mobile was also supposed to appear on Tuesday's panel, but backed out after Sunday's announcement.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski appeared at CTIA prior to the CEO panel, but spent most of his speech discussing the looming spectrum crunch, and declined to say anything about the AT&T-T-Mobile deal. "Of course you'll understand that I'm not going to comment on that," he said.
Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, however, was asked about a recent New York Times headline that said there was "little to cheer in AT&T deal." That conclusion is "false," de la Vega said. The deal will help resolve the pending spectrum crisis given that the two will combine their spectrum assets, merged networks create a denser grid with more capacity, and it will facilitate the roll-out of LTE, he said.
Did Sprint's Hesse agree? "I would have to agree with the Times," he said, while Verizon's Mead said it was an "overstatement" and he would "not agree with it."