NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) — Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nevada have joined the legal fight against T-Mobile's $26.5 billion bid for Sprint in a case that lawyers on both sides say they hope will reach trial in the fall.
Beau Buffier, a lawyer for New York state's attorney general, told a Manhattan federal court judge on Friday that the states were added to a rewritten version of a lawsuit which were filed 10 days ago.
Nine other states and the District of Columbia had sued in attempts to block the merger, saying it will reduce competition and damage consumers causing prices for cellphone service to rise.
The companies say the merger is necessary for them to upgrade to a fast, powerful "5G" mobile network that competes with Verizon and AT&T.
President Donald Trump has said he wants the U.S. to "win" a global 5G race.
The Republican majority of the Federal Communications Commission supports the deal.
At the lawsuit's first hearing Friday, T-Mobile attorney George Cary defended the merger, saying the deal will improve competition by combining T-Mobile, with 79 million subscribers, and Sprint, with 54 million subscribers, letting them compete more effectively against their biggest competitors.
Cary said the combined T-Mobile and Sprint will be "much more competitive."
"The elephant not in this room is the Justice Department. The Justice Department has not yet weighed in on this matter. I understand it is under consideration. They may or may not take a position," U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said.
Although the judge said he wasn't ready to hear debate on issues raised by the lawsuit, he told lawyers to be prepared to explain later how such a big deal survives a presumption that it would increase antitrust behaviors and also wants to know how it would affect competition in rural areas.
Steven Sunshine, a Sprint attorney, told Marrero that it's believed that a Justice Department decision is imminent and is likely to be in line with what the Federal Communications Commission was doing.
In a release, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the merger will make it harder for people in Minnesota "to afford their lives."
"When Minnesotans and Americans everywhere are already struggling to afford their lives, more market consolidation is the last thing they need," he said.
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