T-Mobile, Sprint execs defending merger to lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top executives of T-Mobile and Sprint are taking the case for their 26.5 billion merger to Congress, arguing that joining their companies won’t hurt competition or jack up prices for wireless service.

They could face skepticism at a hearing Wednesday. The deal, which must win approval from federal regulators, would combine the nation’s third- and fourth-largest wireless companies, creating a new behemoth roughly the size of industry giants Verizon and AT&T.

Obama administration regulators blocked a similar merger earlier this decade when AT&T attempted to purchase T-Mobile, concluding that it would inhibit competition.

T-Mobile and Sprint say American consumers would get more and pay less as a result of the merger and argue that the combination would allow them to better compete as wireless, broadband and video industries converge.