Court Approves $26 Billion T-Mobile / Sprint Merger
February 11, 2020
DRC congratulates its clients Gibson Dunn, Cleary Gottlieb, WilmerHale, Wilson Sonsini, Skadden Arps, Morrison & Foerster, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, Sprint, and the rest of the trial team on their trial victory in New York et al. v. Deutsche Telekom AG et al., 19-cv-05434 (S.D.N.Y.).
This victory clears the way for the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp., the nation's third and fourth largest mobile carriers. As the Court concluded: "T-Mobile has redefined itself over the past decade as a maverick that has spurred the two largest players in its industry to make numerous pro-consumer changes. The Proposed Merger would allow the merged company to continue T-Mobile's undeniably successful business strategy for the foreseeable future."
The proposed merger underwent extensive regulatory review before the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. Those reviews resulted in approvals, conditioned on a divestiture of assets designed to enable Dish Network's entrance as a new competitor in the retail wireless market.
Despite regulatory approval at the federal level, seventeen states and the District of Columbia joined as plaintiffs in a suit to block the merger under Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
The Plaintiff States argued that the merger would result in higher prices for consumers by eliminating the head-to-head competition between T-Mobile and Sprint and by increasing the likelihood of price coordination between the remaining carriers. After a two-week trial, United States District Court Judge Victor Marrero denied the Plaintiffs' request for an injunction, which will allow the new T-Mobile to compete more effectively with Verizon and AT&T, including expediting the rollout of 5G to underserved communities.
DRC assisted the trial team with trial strategy, a focus group, witness preparation, demonstrative aids, and technical support during the trial.