New York (dpa) - T-Mobile boss John Legere has warned of the failure of the mega deal in the important US lawsuit regarding the controversial merger of the Telekom subsidiary with the smaller rival Sprint.
Should the wedding be banned, this should lead to disadvantages for customers, said Legere at the court hearing in New York.
More than a dozen US states are suing the over $ 26 billion merger, which is said to unite the third and fourth largest US mobile operators. The plaintiffs fear that this will reduce competition and lead to price increases, job cuts and fewer innovations.
The central argument of Legere and the defenders of the merger is that Sprint alone is hardly able to survive in the market anyway. Therefore, the competition is not helped by a ban. On the contrary, this would weaken T-Mobile compared to the top dogs Verizon and Sprint, which is ultimately bad for customers.
In fact, Sprint is deeply in debt and deep in the red. Judge Victor Marrero was nevertheless suspicious and asked Legere critical questions. Skepticism also appears to be increasing on the stock exchange - since the start of the process on Monday, Sprint shares have fallen by around six percent and T-Mobile shares by around three percent.
A total of 13 states and the Washington region want to prevent the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint agreed in April 2018. The alliance is getting in the way, even though the US government has already conditionally approved the billion dollar deal and the FCC industry regulator has also given the green light.
