Late Update, 10:12 pm ET Monday, October 24 The government’s case against the $39 billion AT&T/T-Mobile merger took an intriguing detour on Monday when third-party Sprint defended its own, separate lawsuit against AT&T before a judge in Washington, D.C., arguing that if the merger is allowed to go through “it will make it difficult for Sprint to get key inputs like handsets, as well as raise costs for roaming and backhaul,” according to Sprint attorney Steven Sunshine, Bloomberg reported.AT&T, meanwhile, sought to argue that Sprint’s case should be dismissed entirely. As Ars Technica‘s Timothy B. Lee reported: “AT&T’s motion to dismiss Sprint’s lawsuit focuses on the issue of standing. AT&T argues that antitrust laws are designed to protect consumers, not competitors such as Sprint. ”
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=105346