And the fun just goes on, and on, and on.
Following this morning’s news that Sprint is suing AT&T/T-Mobile in an attempt to block their proposed merger, AT&T has just returned with a response. As you might expect, it pretty much boils down to “Yeah, yeah, see you in court. Oh, and here are some reasons we’re awesome.”
The full text of the response:
This simply demonstrates what we’ve said all along – Sprint is more interested in protecting itself than it is in promoting competition that benefits consumers. We of course will vigorously contest this matter in court as AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile USA will: help solve our nation’s spectrum exhaust situation and improve wireless service for millions; allow AT&T to expand 4G LTE mobile broadband to another 55 million Americans, or 97% of the population; and result in billions of additional investment and tens of thousands of jobs, at a time when our nation needs them most.
How else could they have responded, really? Tucked tail and given up? Of course not. AT&T’s not about to give up on this one — if only because doing so would mean they still have to cough up around $6 billion to T-Mobile thanks to a few fail-safes in the deal terms. AT&T’s already battling the Department of Justice and trying to maneuver their way through investigations lead by just about every other branch of the government — in the grand scheme of things, Sprint’s lawsuit is just a means of forcing AT&T to spread their legal team that much thinner.