One view shows the sign of AT&T store in Broomfield, Colorado April 20, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Rick WilkingWASHINGTON | Fri 09/09/2011 07:08 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters)-AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA fought against the Justice Department's challenge to its merger proposal, arguing that the deal would "usher in more intense competition".
AT&T and T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, argued in a federal court filing on Friday that the business of the massif of US $ 39 billion would be releasing spectrum and create new capabilities for Americans whose mobile devices increasingly are broadcasting large amounts of data.
Companies "complaint of the Department of Justice did not come to grips with significant efficiencies that this transaction will generate", said in his presentation.
Soon, the AT&T asked the Court to allow the purchase of T-Mobile to go ahead and require that the Department of Justice pay their expenses in the challenge.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit to stop the deal last week, saying that the acquisition of T-Mobile USA, the carrier of paragraph 4, by AT&T, paragraph 2, would hurt competition in the wireless market and lead to higher prices.
The Department, in particular, seemed determined to preserve the T-Mobile as a carrier of innovative discount, which held down the wireless prices.
Answer this concern, the AT&T said "T-Mobile is not a competitive constraint, or unique material in AT&T".
"T-Mobile was not a significant innovative or unique in terms of network development and deployment, nor is it likely to become a foreseeable future," AT&T said in the filing with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Business partners had problem with Justice Department review of the effect of the merger on a national basis rather than on a local basis. They argued that more than 90 percent of u.s. consumers currently have at least five wireless carriers to choose from in their local markets.
They also objected to the method that the Justice Department used to analyze the deal, saying it was too simplistic.
If the merger is approved, the AT&T will dismiss Verizon Wireless as the mobile operator no. 1 of the United States. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc.
Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona "we continue to believe that this transaction as currently proposal is anti-competitive and harmful to consumers," he said. "We will respond even more in our presentation of the Court".
The action is the biggest antitrust challenge Obama administration yet.
The case is the Department of Justice, v. AT&T, T-Mobile USA, the District Court of the United States, the District of Columbia, no. 11-01560.
(Reporting Sinead Carew Diane Bartz; edited by Gary Hill, Tim Dobbyn and Andre Grenon)
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