AT&T Losing T-Mobile Seen Spurring Exodus on Dropped Calls: Tech

The U.S. government’s effort to block the takeover of T-Mobile USA Inc. chokes off AT&T Inc.’s path to an expanded network and wrecks its plan to gain as much as $20 billion in airwaves to help handle surging call volume.

The U.S. Justice Department yesterday sued to block the company’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc., calling it a threat to wireless competition. The deal was struck to give AT&T the capacity it needs to ease network congestion, and accelerate the rollout of faster, next-generation network technology -- key pieces of AT&T’s effort to add subscribers and step up earnings growth.