Sprint enlists army of lobbyists to fight T-Mobile-AT&T merger

Sprint Nextel Corp. is taking the battle against AT&T Inc.’s proposed merger with T-Mobile USA to Washington. It’s signing up lobbyists to man its barricades and standing in alliance with consumer groups.

Why fight so hard when conventional wisdom sees regulators ultimately giving the deal an OK? Perhaps to sway the terms of whatever fusion that regulators might approve. The ramped-up lobbying charge would serve Sprint in two ways even it fails to stop the merger. First, lobbyists could push regulators to demand a larger sell-off. Second, it could give Sprint insight about, and perhaps influence over, what clusters of subscribers and spectrum land on the auction block.

AT&T spent more than $15 million on federal lobbying last year and nearly $8.4 million in the first quarter of 2011, although the company’s interests roam wider than Sprint’s narrower focus on the wireless industry. What’s more, seven members of Congress own more than $100,000 in AT&T stock. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) owns more than $1.2 million. No one in Congress owns more than $65,000 of Sprint stock.