T-Mobile/Sprint merger faces big test as nine states sue to block it

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Nine states and the District of Columbia today filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile and Sprint in an attempt to stop the wireless carriers from merging.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and California AG Xavier Becerra are leading the way, with co-plaintiffs from Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

“When it comes to corporate power, bigger isn’t always better,” James said in an announcement of the lawsuit. “The T-Mobile and Sprint merger would not only cause irreparable harm to mobile subscribers nationwide by cutting access to affordable, reliable wireless service for millions of Americans, but would particularly affect lower-income and minority communities here in New York and in urban areas across the country. That’s why we are going to court to stop this merger and protect our consumers, because this is exactly the sort of consumer-harming, job-killing megamerger our antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”