AT&T on Friday motioned to dismiss the lawsuits of both Sprint and Cellular South attempting to block its merger with T-Mobile. The carrier giant cited lack of standing, or that it wasn’t a valid plaintiff, for claimed bias. As a carrier, it couldn’t claim to “wrap itself in the cloak” of the public’s interest since it had a clear competitive incentive to block the deal, AT&T said.
In tackling the Cellular South​ suit, AT&T used a similar tactic and pointed to Cellular South CEO Hu Meena reportedly asking AT&T to soften concerns about the merger by making a network sharing agreement. Cellular South feared competition, not the absence of it, AT&T said.
While true that Cellular South and Sprint have commercial interests, it’s their concerns about their ability to fairly compete that forms the cores of both their private lawsuits as well as the Department of Justice dispute. Sprint hasn’t denied any stake in the matter but has said its interests happen to dovetail with genuine pro-competition concerns.
