AT&T on Friday filed a motion to dismiss the Sprint and Cellular South lawsuits that oppose its merger with T-Mobile, arguing that the carriers' filings are simply an effort to "improve their own strategic interests."
Sprint and Cellular South (which recently renamed itself C Spire), said the motion was routine and that AT&T only filed it because the judge ordered it to do so.
"Sprint has spoken disingenuously about its motives for opposing the merger and, as recently as last week, said the Department of Justice should block AT&T from merging with T-Mobile, but would have good reasons to instead allow Sprint to purchase them," Wayne Watts, senior executive vice president and general counsel at AT&T, said in a statement. "Cellular South suggested that it would not oppose the merger if AT&T would agree not to engage in facilities-based competition in Mississippi. Such an extraordinary and inappropriate proposal simply confirms that what Cellular South fears is competition, not an alleged lack of competition."
Sprint filed a lawsuit to block the pending $39 billion merger of AT&T and T-Mobile earlier this month, arguing that it will reduce competition in the wireless space and result in higher prices. Cellular South did the same last week. Both carrier lawsuits came after the Department of Justice also sued to block the merger, telling the court that the deal would "substantially lessen competition" in the market.
In its response to the DOJ suit three weeks ago, AT&T argued that competition in the wireless space will actually suffer without a combined AT&T and T-Mobile, and that the DOJ has not "come to grips" to the efficiencies the deal will produce.
"As we have previously stated, we are working on parallel paths - seeking a solution that addresses the DOJ's concerns while simultaneously preparing for trial," AT&T's Watts said today. "We remain confident that we will reach a successful conclusion."
Vonya B. McCann, senior vice president of government affairs at Sprint, said "there's nothing surprising about AT&T's motion to dismiss this litigation. AT&T promised to take this step more than two weeks ago but only filed this motion today because it was ordered to do so by the Court. AT&T's motion is without merit, and Sprint will respond to it next Friday and continue to cooperate with Judge Huvelle as she seeks to efficiently try both this case and the Justice Department's case against AT&T."
Eric Graham, vice president for strategic and government relations at C Spire, said AT&T's move "is routine and expected."
"Today's motion will provide us with another good opportunity to demonstrate why AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile is blatantly anticompetitive, and will result in consumers facing higher prices, less innovation, fewer choices, and reduced competition," he said.
Cellular South also disputed AT&T's claims regarding a proposed deal in Mississippi.
"AT&T's accusations flatly distort the record. As the emails attached to AT&T's motion make clear, Mr. Meena never suggested that AT&T not compete in Mississippi or anywhere else," Graham said. "In the days surrounding the announcement of AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile, AT&T approached us in an effort to gain our support. Mr. Meena raised the same issues that we have articulated for years. In typical fashion, AT&T declined to address those issues and we moved on."
In one of those emails, dated March 21, Cellular South president Hu Meena, wrote to Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, to say that Cellular South had "serious concerns" with the T-Mobile merger, but might be less concerned if the two companies could come to an internetworking agreement. Among the terms of that deal, Meena wrote: "Utilizing spectrum from the current holdings of ATT, T-Mobile and/or Cellular South (CS) and the band class or band classes that ATT chooses, CS will build, operate and own an LTE network in the entire state of Mississippi and any other area in southeast that ATT desires. Accordingly, CS will provide network services to ATT via attractive MVNO arrangement in the areas in which it builds."
Meena requested that the two sides reach an agreement by April 7, but that did not come to pass.
Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who is presiding over the DOJ case, recently set a trial date for February 13. A status conference in the case is set for October 24.
For more, see On AT&T/T-Mobile Merger, Justice is Served as well as 7 Alternative Buyers for T-Mobile.
Editor's Note: This story was updated on Saturday with additional comment from Cellular South/C Spire.