T-Mobile's Sprint Deal Draws State Concerns Over Consumer Harm

  • Merger’s impact on lower-income consumers said to be focus
  • States said to hire economists including Berkeley’s Shapiro
A pedestrian passes in front of a Sprint Corp. store in New York, U.S.Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

State antitrust enforcers are expressing deep concerns that T-Mobile US Inc.’s proposed takeover of Sprint Corp. could raise prices for consumers, signaling they might seek to thwart the deal.

Some state attorneys general who are investigating the $26 billion transaction took the unusual step this week of publicly voicing worries that the combination could harm competition, offering insight for the first time into how they view the tie-up.