Yesterday AT&T asked the federal court to dismiss the Cellular South (now C Spire) complaint aimed to block the proposed merger with T-Mobile. AT&T claims the competitive concerns raised by Cellular South weren’t legitimate, and submitted an email as evidence. AT&T has evidence of a March 21st email from Cellular south’s president, Hu Meena, proposing a spectrum and roaming access agreement between the two companies.
“Cellular South suggested that it would not oppose the merger if AT&T would agree not to engage in facilities-based competition in Mississippi,” AT&T said in its filing. “This inappropriate proposal confirms that what Cellular South fears is competition, not lack of competition.” Cellular South is currently putting together a statement about the accusations and will release it later.
In the Sept. 19th lawsuit to block the acquisition, Cellular South said the merger “threatens to substantially lessen competition” and will cause them significant losses and damages.
How do you guys feel about the proposed merger and what it would do to smaller companies? I personally like having the option to chose between 4 major carriers here in the U.S..
[via bloomberg]