Public Interest Groups Want T-Mobile-UScellular Merger Blocked

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2024 – A coalition of public interest organizations has urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject T-Mobile’s proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of UScellular, citing concerns over reduced competition, spectrum consolidation, and consumer harm.

“If this transaction is approved, more than 34 million Americans will lose a wireless competitor,” the petition, submitted by Public Knowledge, New America’s Open Technology Institute, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Access Humboldt, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, argued Tuesday.

“Any transaction that completely eliminates a competitor for 10 percent of the United States population, while boosting just the top competitors, will harm the consumer,” wrote Public Knowledge's broadband policy fellow Peter Gregory and legal director John Bergmayer in their petition.