Today, the FCC released its order approving the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, with a handful of conditions, by a 3-2 party line vote. The following statement should be attributed to Gigi Sohn:

The order confirms what we’ve known for months – Chairman Pai and the FCC majority would rather declare a momentary win in the so-called “race” to 5G wireless technology than protect consumers from a future of higher prices and reduced competition. For both the FCC and consumers, it’s a pyrrhic victory. 

The Commission majority chose to ignore the conclusion of both the Justice Department and the FCC’s own expert staff that this 4 to 3 merger would result in higher prices and reduced competition, especially for the most vulnerable in society. Moreover, the companies’ promises on 5G, rural buildout and in-home broadband are unsubstantiated, unenforceable and not merger-specific.  

This order is the culmination of one of the most irregular and opaque processes in FCC history. The FCC majority announced their votes three months before an order was circulated. Despite major changes to the original merger application, the Chairman refused to seek public comment on them. Sprint is being investigated for allegedly misappropriating Lifeline support for nearly 10 percent of the funds for the entire program. Yet the FCC majority rewards the company and its executives with a multibillion-dollar merger and golden parachutes.

The American people owe a debt of gratitude to Commissioners Rosenworcel and Starks, as well as the 16 State Attorneys General who have sued to block the merger.  Here again, the states are standing up for consumers when the federal government has refused to do so. 

Gigi Sohn is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Foundation Senior Fellow. She was Counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from November 2013-December 2016 and testified against the T-Mobile Sprint merger before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law in March 2019.  Gigi can be reached for comment at the above email or at 202-253-0876.