As promised, AT&T—jointly with T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom—has filed its response to last week’s lawsuit blocking its proposed merger with T-Mobile. The Department of Justice laid out its concerns over reduced competition, but AT&T “vigorously contests” those presumptions, arguing the merger is in fact “good for consumers.”
AT&T announced that it planned to acquire T-Mobile from its German parent Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion in March. Unsurprisingly, the deal drew attention from the Senate antitrust committee, with Senator Al Franken (D-MN) calling the deal “unfixable.” AT&T countered, claiming T-Mobile wasn’t a significant competitor and didn’t have a compelling portfolio of advanced wireless devices. The merger would effectively improve AT&T’s network without removing competition from the marketplace, the company said.
There was a lot of skepticism about AT&T’s arguments, including on the part of the DoJ. Last week, it filed a lawsuit to block the merger, citing violation of antitrust law. “AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market,” the DoJ said in its complaint.