T-Mobile/Sprint Could Win State Suit, Levin Says; Sprint Gets FCC Auction Waiver
T-Mobile and Sprint likely have a better chance of prevailing in the state challenge to their deal than an objective legal analysis would suggest, New Street’s Blair Levin told investors this weekend. The broader deal with DOJ includes the sale…
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of assets to Dish Network so it can launch a wireless competitor. “Underneath the legal framework is a question that we believe the judge will constantly be asking himself: are American consumers better off in the long-run with the proposed DISH and T-Mobile business plans or are they better off with Sprint going through some kind of unspecified financial restructuring, sale of assets, and other business moves?” Levin wrote. T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen will be “compelling witnesses for the former,” Levin said: “To the best of our knowledge, there will not be any businesspersons arguing in detail for the latter. That asymmetry, we believe, will be a major dynamic in the trial and the key reason we see the odds as closer than traditional antitrust analysis would suggest.” A trial on the case against the deal by state attorneys general starts Dec. 9 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see 1909300033). The FCC, meanwhile, approved a waiver Monday allowing Sprint to bid in the December auction of high-band spectrum in the upper 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands. T-Mobile earlier got a similar waiver (see 1908270033). The FCC dismissed as moot waiver requests by the two carriers and Dish of the same rules for the related asset sale agreement among the three companies. The Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau said in docket 19-59 that waiver isn’t necessary.