Minnesota Sen. Al Franken on Tuesday formally voiced his objection to the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile and urged regulators to reject the deal.
"This transaction is not in the public interest," Sen. Franken said in a statement. "If approved, it would result in greatly reduced competition, the potential loss of thousands of jobs, higher consumer prices, and less innovation in technology. I urge the FCC and the DOJ to deny AT&T's application for approval of its acquisition of T-Mobile."
In a 24-page filing with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Franken argued that allowing the deal to proceed would create a duopoly between AT&T and Verizon Wireless. It would "substantially lessen competition" and would harm the economy. A deal with conditions would not assuage his concerns, Franken said, and both agencies should "deny this proposal in its entirety."
One of the benefits of a combined AT&T and T-Mobile, according to AT&T, will be increased access to spectrum, which will help AT&T roll out its 4G LTE network. Franken, however, was not convinced. "AT&T owns more spectrum than any other company, yet AT&T has been plagued with delays in rolling out infrastructure to support spectrum it has been allocated," he wrote. " The question your agencies must consider is not how badly AT&T needs the spectrum, but how effective AT&T would be at making use of that spectrum relative to other carrier."
AT&T should instead spend $39 billion "to build out its existing spectrum and to deploy additional technologies to make more efficient use of its current spectrum holdings," Franken said.
In a statement, Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, argued that the company did not expect everyone to support the deal.
"We did not expect to pitch a shutout when it came to endorsements for our merger. But it is very clear that the few opposing voices are far outweighed by the enormous depth and breadth of support we are seeing," Cicconi said. "Much of this support is unprecedented. Never before have 26 governors urged approval of a merger as in the vital interests of their states. They've been joined by 72 mayors, 77 Democratic Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, most of the major civil rights organizations in America, much of the high tech community, virtually all of the organized labor movement, and a growing number of respected organizations representing farmers and rural communities. And, as more officials and organizations learn about the major benefits of this merger, that support continues to grow."
Franken's filing comes several days after Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights, penned a letter to the DOJ and FCC, which also urged them to reject the deal on similar grounds. The merger is "highly dangerous to competition and consumers," Kohl argued.