Sprint: AT&T deal will stifle competition
By Sinead Carew |
March 24, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SPRINT Nextel Corp cried foul over a planned merger between AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA, saying the deal would stifle competition and potentially hurt its profitability.
Sprint executives attending a wireless industry event on Monday criticized AT&T's proposed US$39 billion of Deutsche Telekom's US unit, announced on Sunday, and listed several ways it could hurt the wireless industry.
"When one competitor has that much buying power they can determine the fate of different products," Fared Adib, a Sprint executive in charge of handsets, said on the sidelines of the CTIA conference in Orlando, Florida.
Earlier in the day Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse had spoken out against the deal during a keynote panel of CEOs, and said it would be bad for competition in the industry.
"I am concerned about it," said Hesse, while sitting beside another panelist, AT&T's mobile chief Ralph de la Vega.
Sprint, the No. 3 US mobile service, already faces tough competition from its two bigger rivals, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc. The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 US operator, would leapfrog Verizon Wireless as market leader.
If the AT&T deal is approved, the top two operators would serve about 75 percent of US mobile contract customers between them, according to analysts' estimates.
Aside from concerns about consumer choice, the top operators could potentially get much better pricing from suppliers than smaller rivals like Sprint, said Steve Elfman, Sprint's president for network operations.
AT&T said the company will be happy to address Sprint's concerns with lawmakers and US regulators who will be tasked with reviewing the deal.
Sprint executives attending a wireless industry event on Monday criticized AT&T's proposed US$39 billion of Deutsche Telekom's US unit, announced on Sunday, and listed several ways it could hurt the wireless industry.
"When one competitor has that much buying power they can determine the fate of different products," Fared Adib, a Sprint executive in charge of handsets, said on the sidelines of the CTIA conference in Orlando, Florida.
Earlier in the day Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse had spoken out against the deal during a keynote panel of CEOs, and said it would be bad for competition in the industry.
"I am concerned about it," said Hesse, while sitting beside another panelist, AT&T's mobile chief Ralph de la Vega.
Sprint, the No. 3 US mobile service, already faces tough competition from its two bigger rivals, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc. The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 US operator, would leapfrog Verizon Wireless as market leader.
If the AT&T deal is approved, the top two operators would serve about 75 percent of US mobile contract customers between them, according to analysts' estimates.
Aside from concerns about consumer choice, the top operators could potentially get much better pricing from suppliers than smaller rivals like Sprint, said Steve Elfman, Sprint's president for network operations.
AT&T said the company will be happy to address Sprint's concerns with lawmakers and US regulators who will be tasked with reviewing the deal.
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