Public Knowledge, Writers Guild of America West and others have joined to ask the FCC to deny the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger.
Petitions to deny the deal were due today (Aug. 27), with oppositions to those due Sept. 17, and replies due Oct. 9.
Related: FCC Seeks Comment on Sprint-T-Mobile
While the companies say the combo would create a more powerful competitor to AT&T and Verizon, the groups say it would reduce the number of national carriers from four to three, a "drastic reduction" they said would likely harm competition and raise prices to consumers.
Related: T-Mobile Seeks OK of 100% Foreign Ownership
“By nearly any measure, today’s wireless marketplace is already excessively consolidated," said Public Knowledge. "However, for the past several years, aggressive competition by T-Mobile and Sprint has provided numerous benefits to consumers, such as the reintroduction of unlimited data plans, lower prices, the elimination of two-year contracts, early upgrades, and free international data roaming. Without independent T-Mobile and Sprint challenging Verizon Wireless and AT&T, and each other, consumers are unlikely to continue to reap the benefits they have accrued from four-firm competition."
Also joining in the petition to deny were Common Cause, Consumers Union and New America's Open Technology Institute.
