House Dems call for hearing on planned merger between T-Mobile, Sprint

Top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are calling on the panel’s GOP leadership to hold a hearing on the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, expressing concern about the deal’s potential effects on the market.

Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), the ranking members on the panel and its communications subcommittee, wrote to their counterparts on Monday arguing that the deal needs congressional oversight.

“As the Committee with primary jurisdiction over the wireless industry, we have a responsibility to understand the potential effect of this merger on consumers, workers, and the communications market,” the Democrats wrote to Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

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T-Mobile and Sprint announced the deal on Sunday, saying that it will allow them to remain competitive with the country’s other two wireless providers and help boost their efforts to build a new 5G network.

Pallone and Doyle urged the committee to examine these claims to determine if they hold water.

“The public deserves to understand whether further consolidation will speed up or slow down that deployment and what the change will do for American workers,” the two wrote of the 5G efforts. “Just as urgently, the American people want to know what a transaction such as this will do to wireless prices.”

A spokeswoman for the committee did not immediately respond when asked for comment on the letter.