WASHINGTON – A gaggle of Democratic senators is raising the alarm about T-Mobile proposal to accumulate most of US Cellular and is looking on the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission to closely examine the deal and consider difficult it.
The $4.4 billion deal, announced in May 2024, would allow T-Mobile to make use of a few of U.S. Cellular's wireless spectrum to enhance its coverage in rural areas and reach 4 million recent customers. In the letter, six Democrats wrote that the plan would increase costs for purchasers and limit selection.
“Further market consolidation would have far-reaching implications: it would limit consumer choice, further concentrate wireless spectrum holdings, and potentially lead to higher prices and other harm to consumers across the country,” the senators wrote within the letter, which was obtained exclusively by CNBC.
The letter was led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and co-signed by Senators Chris Murphy (Conn.), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.).
Under the agreement, US Cellular would retain 70 percent of its wireless spectrum and towers and lease space on other towers to T-Mobile.
Warren and Klobuchar had previously expressed concerns concerning the acquisitions and the merger of T-Mobile with Sprint.
In their letter on Monday, the lawmakers also called on the Justice Department to think about reversing the merger since it is costing customers of competing wireless carriers billions of dollars.
The merger has “forced a low-cost operator out of the market, reducing competitive pressure on the remaining national mobile operators, who are aggressively seeking to lower their prices,” the letter said.
A US Cellular spokesperson referred to a press release released on the time the deal was announced, which said the deal “will provide US Cellular customers with more competitive choices as they benefit from T-Mobile's greater resources and ability to offer lower prices, more comprehensive plans and a better network experience.”
A T-Mobile spokesperson said in a press release that the corporate “has a great track record of implementing pro-competitive changes that have benefited our customers and consumers, and we will share more about that in our filing with the FCC in the coming months.”
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