July 23, 2024

Warren, Klobuchar, Senators Urge DOJ and FCC to Closely Scrutinize T-Mobile Acquisition of UScellular

Agencies Have Authority Under Antitrust, Communications Law, to Challenge the Acquisition if it could Substantially Reduce Competition or Fail to “Serve the Public Interest, Convenience, and Necessity.” 

“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.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), together with U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), wrote to Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging them to closely scrutinize T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular.

Since T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2020, just three carriers have dominated the national mobile wireless service market. If approved, T-Mobile’s proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of UScellular would further deplete competition in the industry, giving T-Mobile access to four million new customers. 

“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,” wrote the senators. “Contrary to unproven claims about the purported benefits of consolidation, the evidence shows that, time and time again, mergers drive up prices and decrease quality of service.”

Already, T-Mobile’s 2020 merger with Sprint has had harmful impacts – decreasing market competition, increasing prices for consumers, and harming employees. A class action suit filed in June 2022 charged that decreased competition resulting from the T-Mobile/Sprint merger caused cell phone costs for AT&T and Verizon customers to go up by billions of dollars. U.S. wireless customers have long paid some of the highest prices in the world, and this has only worsened since the merger. 

In addition to hurting consumers, the T-Mobile/Sprint merger has hit employees particularly hard. The companies have conducted numerous rounds of layoffs, including firing 5,000 employees in the fall of 2023, just two weeks before announcing extensive stock buybacks for shareholders.  

Antitrust law prohibits any merger that may substantially lessen competition, and the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission’s finalized Merger Guidelines make clear that a merger between competitors that further consolidates a highly concentrated market may impermissibly substantially lessen competition. Given the existing concentration in the wireless market, T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular would exacerbate current high concentration levels in presumptive violation of antitrust laws.

“T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint resulted in higher costs for consumers, job losses, and less competition in the wireless industry,” concluded the senators. “Allowing T-Mobile to continue its roll-up strategy by acquiring UScellular would exacerbate these harms. We therefore urge DOJ to scrutinize this proposed deal and challenge it if it would substantially lessen competition, and we call on the FCC to carefully review the merger and not to permit the transfer of licenses if it would fail to affirmatively serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” 

Senator Warren has long fought to crack down on corporate consolidation that threatens consumers and raises prices: 

  • In July 2024, Senator Warren and Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) urged the Department of Defense (DoD), FTC, and DOJ to review TransDigm Group Inc.’s acquisitions of two specialized aerospace contractors to prevent price gouging.
  • In June 2024, Senator Warren wrote to DOJ, FTC, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling out high health care costs due to vertically-integrated insurers, private equity companies, and pharmaceutical companies that are driving health care consolidation.
  • In May 2024, chairing a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Senator Warren highlighted the impact of concentration in the food industry and its impact on prices, product, and consumer choice.
  • In May 2024, Senator Warren and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the bipartisan Airport Gate Competition Act, which would increase competition in the airline industry and lower prices for consumers by increasing the number of common use gates in airports.
  • In March 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Penn.) led a group of 14 lawmakers in urging the FTC to revive enforcement of the Robinson Patman Act, a critical tool to promote fair competition in the food industry.
  • In March 2024, Senators Warren and Klobuchar led 26 lawmakers in urging the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees urging them to strike parts of the Commerce, Science, and Justice (CJS) appropriations bill that undercut DOJ’s ability to block anticompetitive mergers.
  • In February 2024, Senator Warren urged FTC to closely scrutinize Choice Hotels’ attempted hostile takeover of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which would further consolidate the hotel market and create the largest branded hotel chain in the United States.
  • In February 2024, Senator Warren delivered the keynote address at RemedyFest, where she called out Big Tech for their anti-competitive tactics that have led to market consolidation and record profits.
  • In February 2024, Senator Warren and 12 other lawmakers called on regulators to block the Capital One-Discover Merger.
  • In December 2023, Senator Warren led 6 senators in a letter to Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, calling on OCC to allow states to move forward with their efforts to protect consumers from harmful bank practices. The senators criticized the OCC for overstepping its preemption authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which the agency is abusing to block tough, state-level consumer protections.
  • In November 2023, Senators Warren and Blumenthal called out U.S. Anesthesia Partners’ (USAP) monopolistic business model and use of restrictive non-compete agreements that have reduced patients’ quality of care, increased prices, and suppressed workers’ wages.
  • In October 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged DOJ and FTC to carefully scrutinize UnitedHealth Group’s pending acquisition of Amedisys; and urged the agencies to scrutinize similar deals, reject behavioral or structural remedies, and oppose any health care acquisition that would threaten competition, increase prices, and reduce quality of care.
  • In September 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vt.), along with a bicameral group of lawmakers, submitted a public comment to the FTC and DOJ in support of the agencies’ proposed merger guidelines, endorsing the agencies’ reading of antitrust law, praising the guidelines as necessary to prevent harm to workers, consumers, and small businesses.
  • In August 2023, chairing a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Senator Warren highlighted the need for regulators to implement the strongest version of bank merger review guidelines in order to ensure stability in the financial system. 
  • In June 2023, Senator Warren sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, Federal Deposit Investment Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Gruenberg, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Hsu, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, urging regulators to promote greater competition in the banking sector by toughening their stances on bank mergers and strengthening bank merger review guidelines.
  • In May 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Warren questioned Acting Comptroller Hsu on his decision to approve JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of First Republic Bank after its collapse. This merger allowed a large, poorly supervised bank to be swallowed by America’s largest bank, making it $200 billion larger than it was before.
  • In May 2023, Senator Warren sent a letter to Acting Comptroller Hsu and FDIC Chair Gruenberg, questioning the terms of the sale of First Republic Bank to JP Morgan Chase and the rationale behind the OCC and FDIC’s approval of the deal. 
  • In December 2022, Senators Warren and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) sent letters to three key banking regulators: the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the OCC, raising concerns about the ties between the banking industry and crypto firms following FTX’s bankruptcy. The senators asked each regulator how they assessed the banking system’s exposure to crypto risks. 
  • In December 2022, Senator Warren and Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) sent a letter to the heads of all U.S. banking regulators, including Acting Comptroller Hsu, calling on them to improve banking access for immigrant communities and communities of color.  
  • In August 2022, Senators Warren, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Whitehouse, and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to the OCC, calling on it to rescind the previously issued cryptocurrency guidance and replace it with more comprehensive guidance, in coordination with other prudential regulators. 

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