AT&T's bid to purchase T-Mobile has prompted much discussion about its benefits and drawbacks, but one major point of contention is whether a combined AT&T and T-Mobile would create or kill jobs.

Not surprisingly, merger opponent Sprint is not convinced the deal would be a big job creator. The carrier partnered with David Neumark, director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at the University of California at Irvine, and released a study that finds that AT&T's promises of job creation are "completely unfounded."

In defending the merger, AT&T has referenced a May study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that suggested AT&T could create between 55,000 and 96,000 jobs over the next seven years if it acquires T-Mobile. But that would only happen if AT&T follows through on a promise to invest $8 billion in its infrastructure during the same time period.

Neumark, however, said during a Thursday morning conference call that "AT&T has actually told investors and the federal government that the merger would lead to reduced capital expenditures on net. If you take EPI's own logic and apply that net reduction in capital expenditures to the data, you predict fewer jobs, not more jobs."

This is a "glaring distortion of the effects of the merger." Using EPI's formula, the merger could actually result in job losses between 34,000 and 60,000, he said.

Neumark also examined past AT&T mergers and, "in almost every case, those acquisitions led to reductions in employment," he said. "If you took AT&T employment at a certain time, added to it the employment of the company they acquired, and then looked what happened to actual employment a year later, actual employment was less."

AT&T, however, said the Sprint study was "woefully flawed with no factual underpinnings."

"For example, it ridiculously assumes T-Mobile will continue to spend and invest at the same levels it did before its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, cut off its funding," a spokesman said. "We have made firm commitments on jobs, including bringing back 5,000 jobs to the U.S. from overseas, and that wireless call center employees on the payroll at closing will not lose their jobs. This is in addition to the thousands of new jobs from our $8 billion investment to integrate the companies' networks and expand new mobile broadband technology. That's more than Sprint has ever done."

Sprint's data, of course, comes just one day after the Department of Justice sued to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. "The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services," Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said in a statement.

The court now has to rule on the DOJ's suit, while the Federal Communications Commission is also still considering the deal. AT&T said it plans "to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed."

For more, see On AT&T/T-Mobile Merger, Justice is Served as well as 7 Alternative Buyers for T-Mobile USA and the slideshow below.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 12:35pm Eastern with comment from AT&T.