AT&T gained a minor victory with a ruling requiring Sprint to hand over requested documents where Apple played a large role. Judge Levie claimed it was “entitled” to know what Sprint’s iPhone 4S deal and other recent additions would do to its market share as part of its defense against the Department of Justice’s antitrust case blocking the T-Mobile merger. Levie further chastised Sprint for those documents it had already given, noting that they were over half a year old.
Sprint had until November 21 to supply the relevant data. Another 29 points of contention remained, three of which were for data from May 2009 through April 2010 on cellphone plan pricing, and 11 more which were expansions on information that Sprint had already given in the past.
Other calls have been made for Sprint’s business study of the merger, Sprint’s government contracts, and its discarded cell tower expansion plans.
It’s unclear what AT&T would stand to gain from learning of Sprint’s iPhone performance at this stage. Apple’s phones have only been available at the carrier for roughly three weeks.
