Spectrum

Our major companies should have a workforce that looks like America, from entry-level positions to the board of directors. As I have long advocated, diversity is more than just best practices – it is good business. I appreciate how this principle is reflected in the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between T-Mobile and the National Urban League, National Action Network, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, OCA–Asian Pacific American Advocates, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and UnidosUS.

A number of civil rights groups have struck an agreement with T-Mobile-Sprint to expand on the companies' diversity initiatives significantly if the two close on their merger.

The Federal Communications Commission formally approved the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. The vote comes months after the Justice Department greenlit the deal. Now, the T-Mobile-Sprint deal faces one more battle. A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general are still trying to block the deal through a multistate lawsuit, and representatives from the two companies said that they won’t close the merger until that is resolved.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN): “I have repeatedly raised serious antitrust concerns about the harmful effects of merging T-Mobile and Sprint, two of the four remaining nationwide wireless carriers. Overwhelming evidence shows that approving this merger will almost certainly hurt competition and consumers and lead to higher prices, worse service, and less innovation. I am hopeful that the lawsuit brought by over a dozen state attorneys general to block the merger will be successful.”

The expert staff of the Commission and the Justice Department have agreed that the merger between TMobile and Sprint, as originally submitted, would likely harm competition and raise prices. Rather than denying that merger, however, the majority has turned to the parties for paper-thin commitments that they contend will expand broadband access and the deployment of 5G. But these promises cannot mask reality. You don’t need to be an expert to know that going from four wireless carriers to three will hurt competition. This merger takes a bad situation and makes it worse.

We’ve all seen what happens when markets become more concentrated after a merger like this one. In the airline industry, it brought us baggage fees and smaller seats. In the pharmaceutical industry, it led to a handful of drug companies raising the prices of lifesaving medications. There’s no reason to think this time will be different. Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that the T-Mobile-Sprint merger will reduce competition, raise prices, lower quality, and slow innovation.

Sen John Neely Kennedy (R-LA), the top Senate appropriator overseeing Federal Communications Commission funding, will bring in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for a hearing Oct 17 to grill him about whether the agency will run its own, likely slower, auction of the 5G airwaves known as the C-band or, as Sen Kennedy fears, allow the satellite companies holding the spectrum to conduct a private sale. “They say we’ve got to do a private deal because it’ll be faster,” said Sen Kennedy. “You ever heard of courts? Duh, you don’t think anybody’s going to file suit over this?

On Oct 16, as a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, I voted to block the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers. But I am only one of five votes at the agency, and a majority of my colleagues have already voiced their support for this transaction. On top of that, the Department of Justice recently reached an agreement with the carriers, giving them a green light to combine. The largest wireless merger in history is now headed toward approval.

The decision by Mississippi's Attorney General to switch sides to support the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger immediately triggered questions about whether other states would follow suit. But MS is unique in its decision—and there’s little reason to suggest a slew of other states will follow in its footsteps.