Warren sounds alarm on T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular deal with Justice
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on security in Afghanistan and in the regions of South and Central Asia, in the Dirksen Building in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 26, 2021.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic senators are sounding the alarm over T-Mobile’s proposal to acquire most of US Cellular, and asking the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission to closely scrutinize and consider challenging the deal.
The $4.4 billion deal announced in May 2024 would allow T-Mobile to use part U.S. Cellular’s wireless spectrum to improve its coverage in rural areas and give it access to four million new customers. In the letter, six Democrats wrote. that the plan would raise costs for customers and limit choices.
“Additional consolidation in the market would have far-reaching effects, reducing choices for consumers, further concentrating wireless spectrum holdings, and potentially leading to higher prices and other harms for consumers across the country,” the senators wrote in the letter, obtained exclusively by CNBC.
The letter was led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), with Sens. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) co-signing.
Under the agreement, U.S. Cellular would retain 70% of its wireless spectrum and towers, leasing space on other towers to T-Mobile.
Warren and Klobuchar have previously raised concerns about T-Mobile’s acquisitions and merger with Sprint.
In Monday’s letter, the lawmakers also ask the Justice Department to consider unwinding that merger, arguing that it cost customers of competing wireless carriers billions of dollars.
The merger “eliminated a low-cost carrier from the market, reducing the competitive pressure on the remaining national wireless carriers to aggressively compete to lower their prices,” the letter said.
A spokesman for U.S. Cellular pointed to a statement released at the time the deal was announced, saying it would “provide more competitive choices for UScellular customers, as they will benefit from T-Mobile’s greater resources and ability to provide lower prices, more robust plans, and a better network experience.”
A spokesperson for T-Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter from CNBC.
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