Sprint Planning To Attack AT&T In Washington

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Okay, so you know by now that Sprint is really opposed to the AT&T-T-Mobile deal. They’ve issued two statements against the deal and last week at CTIA 2011, their executives were talking about how unfortunate the deal was for the wireless landscape and the American consumer. But, Sprint isn’t just going to just issue press releases. The company is planning to proactively work against the deal in Washington.

Larry Krevor, Sprint VP for government affairs, told website FierceWireless that Sprint is planning to take the fight to Washington. They’ll be testifying against the deal at the House Judiciary Committee hearings. But, they’ll also be lobbying against the deal on a one-to-one scale with legislatures. They’ll have competition, as AT&T is a force to be reckoned with in Washington lobbying. They spent $15 million in lobbying alone last year, second only to Verizon’s $16 million.

While Verizon has announced that they plan not to oppose the deal, other carriers are joining Sprint in the fight against AT&T’s acquisition. Wholesale 4G providers Clearwire and LightSquared have announced their opposition to the deal. The Rural Cellular Association, a lobby of smaller carriers that includes “super regionals” like MetroPCS, US Cellular and Cellular South, also plans to oppose the deal in Washington. Some have suggested that the so called “super regionals” could be further targets for acquisition from AT&T and Verizon.

As I’ve written previously, AT&T wouldn’t have offered the $39 billion (including the $3 billion breakup fee) if they didn’t feel the deal could get done. I believe the deal will go through only after AT&T makes concessions to the government first. Regardless, this deal looks to be extremely unpopular amongst AT&T’s peers in the wireless industry.

(Image Credit: Architect of the Capitol)