T-Mobile US Inc. executives said they feel "very strongly" in the company's ability to prevail in court against a multistate challenge to the T-Mobile pending merger with Sprint Corp., but without a pretrial settlement, litigation could postpone the deal closing to next year.
"We're hopeful we can still get this deal closed this year, but if we do, in fact, go to litigation, this deal will not close until early 2020," T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter told analysts at a Sept. 17 industry conference.
More than a dozen state attorneys general, led by New York and California, filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the T-Mobile and Sprint merger, saying the combination would lead to reduced access to affordable wireless services and higher prices.
Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to a number of conditions to secure federal regulatory approval of the merger. As part of those conditions, the merged entity would divest myriad wireless assets to DISH Network Corp. upon the deal closing. DISH plans to use these acquired assets to support its build-out of a next-generation 5G network.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the leaders of the multistate action against the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, said at the time of the state lawsuit filing that the federal merger conditions did not fully address the states' concerns about the deal causing harm.
