Smartphones with the logos of T-Mobile and Sprint are seen in this illustration taken Sept. 19, 2017.Dado Ruvic/Reuters
New York State on Sunday dropped its fight against the US$40-billion merger of U.S. wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp., saying the state would not appeal a judge’s approval of the deal.
New York State Attorney-General Letitia James said her office would end the court challenge to the 2018 merger agreement between the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers.
Instead, she said her office hopes “to work with all the parties to ensure that consumers get the best pricing and service possible, that networks are built out throughout our state, and that good-paying jobs are created here in New York.”
A U.S. federal judge gave the companies the green light last Tuesday to complete the deal. New York, California and other states had challenged it on antitrust grounds, saying it would drive up prices for consumers.
The office of California Attorney-General Xavier Becerra said it was reviewing the court ruling and its options.
“We are mindful that the California Public Utility Commission also has this matter under consideration,” it said on Sunday.
The 11 other states in the group and the District of Columbia did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
In her statement, New York State’s Ms. James said the “process has yielded commitments from T-Mobile to create jobs in Rochester and engage in robust national diversity initiatives that will connect our communities with good jobs and technology.”
Other states have also stopped pursuing their fight by focusing on jobs they were promised. In October, Colorado became the second state, after Mississippi, to drop its legal challenge after striking an agreement with T-Mobile and Dish Network Corp., which will buy the assets divested from the merger.
Dish pledged to bring 2,000 jobs to Colorado, and T-Mobile agreed to deploy the next generation of wireless, 5G, across much of the state.
No further details were immediately available of any such specific agreement with New York State.
The all-stock deal was originally valued at US$26-billion. Now that those T-Mobile shares have moved, the deal is worth US$40-billion.