CWA, Dish Raise Questions on Revised Economic Model for T-Mobile/Sprint

Dish Network and the Communication Workers of America separately told the FCC that nothing in a revised economic model for T-Mobile buying Sprint should lead to approval (see 1810150031), in redacted filings posted Wednesday in docket 18-197. “Five months after their Public Interest Statement was filed and subsequent to the end of the comment cycle in this proceeding, the Applicants now have come forward with a completely new merger simulation model prepared by a new group of economists,” CWA said: “The merger will not increase employment, will not result in better service to rural America, is not justified by Sprint’s alleged competitive weakness, and is not necessary for the rollout of advanced 5G services.” Dish said, “Like the Applicants’ previous economic analysis, this new and belated effort fails.” The FCC’s informal 180-day clock resumed Tuesday at day 55. T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said at a UBS conference Tuesday the companies have filed more than 25 million pages of documentation at DOJ. “We are extremely respectful of the process” and have tried to keep it nonpolitical, Carter said. The companies’ econometric model was “in the SEC's own words … the most intensive and complicated model that they've ever seen,” he said. The model demonstrates that combing the networks will mean an eight-fold increase in capacity and 15-fold increase in speeds “versus what either of us could do on a standalone basis, creating a truly differentiated 5G experience here in the U.S.,” he said.