Analyst Defends T-Mobile/Sprint Skepticism
New Street’s Blair Levin defended his comments on potential problems facing T-Mobile buying Sprint, which were attacked by T-Mobile CEO John Legere Thursday (see 1902070009). Legere’s job is “to sell the merger, and like every CEO in a merger review,…
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he has to express confidence that it will be approved until it is public that it will, or it won’t” be, Levin wrote investors Friday. “Our job is to sift through lots of different policy data to find a pattern that predicts an outcome prior to that public announcement.” Levin’s findings that the deal could be in trouble could be wrong, he conceded: “We owe our clients our best interpretation based on our experience in, and in observing, the government.” Levin questioned Legere’s claims that review was in the last inning and a decision will come soon. Levin expects action in late Q2 or Q3. Members of the 4Competition Coalition, which opposes the transaction, said they met with aides to all five commissioners. The group is made up of “a diverse array of 23 companies, consumer organizations, labor unions, and industry associations,” said a filing in docket 18-197 posted Friday. “All members are united in their view that the Sprint/T-Mobile merger as currently proposed must be blocked. 4CC believes consumers deserve more choices, not fewer. Lower prices, not higher. Better service, not worse.”