US: 14 orgs tell Congress why T-Mobile and Sprint merger should be blocked

T-Mobile and Sprint’s proposed merger has seen pushback from various groups. One in particular, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), is concerned the deal could mean up to 30,000 lost jobs. Now, 14 organizations including Consumer Reports, CWA, and the American Antitrust Institute have shared with the House of Representatives why they believe the deal shouldn’t be allowed and also called for hearings on the merger proposal.

On Wednesday, November 28, leaders from the 14 organizations sent a letter to Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Frank Pallone, who are the ranking members on the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Energy & Commerce, respectively. The letter shares arguments for why the T-Mobile and Sprint merger should be blocked and also asks for hearings on the potential impacts of such a deal.

The organizations include:

• American Antitrust Institute

• Center for Media Justice

• Common Cause

• Communications Workers of America Consumer Reports

• Fight for the Future

• Free Press Action

• The Greenlining Institute

• National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low income clients

• New America’s Open Technology Institute

• Open Markets Institute

• Public Knowledge

• Rural Wireless Association Writers

• Guild of America West

The concerns range from job losses, it being an anti-competitive and anti-consumer deal, to even incentivizing Verizon, AT&T, and the new T-Mobile to “collude.”