HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced a lawsuit to block the anticompetitive megamerger of telecommunications giants T-Mobile and Sprint. Attorney General Shapiro is the 18th attorney general to challenge the merger, adding to the forward progress of New York, California, Texas, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
“All Pennsylvanians deserve access to affordable, reliable wireless service, and as Attorney General, I am committed to protecting that access,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro. “The merger between T-Mobile and Sprint would severely undermine competition in the telecommunications sector, which would hurt Pennsylvanian consumers by driving up prices, limiting coverage, and diminishing quality. I’m proud to stand with my colleague Attorneys General in opposing this merger and advocating on behalf of Pennsylvania consumers.”
T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corporation are the third and fourth largest mobile wireless networks in the U.S., and are the lower-cost carriers among the “Big Four” — Verizon Wireless and AT&T round out the market. Intense competition, spurred in particular by T-Mobile and Sprint, has meant declining prices, increased coverage, and better quality for all mobile phone subscribers. Pennsylvania’s wireless subscribers rely heavily on the benefits that competition brings to the mobile phone marketplace.
T-Mobile currently has more than 79 million subscribers, and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. Sprint currently has more than 54 million subscribers, and is a majority-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp.
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