Texas joins other states' effort to block T-Mobile and Sprint merger

The Justice Department's approval of the Sprint/T-Mobile merger has done nothing to sway the states suing to block the deal. In fact, the State of Texas has just joined the lawsuit, with Attorney General Ken Paxton assuming a key leadership role alongside California AG Xavier Becerra and New York AG Letitia James. The three officials are leading the charge with 12 other Attorney Generals across the nation.

"Whether Americans reside in big states or in small, in rural areas or in urban centers, on the coasts or in the heartland, it is clear that this merger is bad for consumers, bad for workers, and bad for innovation, and our growing momentum clearly continues to make that point," James said in a statement.

Paxton said that his office carefully evaluated the proposed merger and the settlement. In the end, though, he decided that the deal the Justice Department struck isn't in the best interest of working Texans, who need affordable wireless services. The Justice Department approved the deal on the condition that Sprint will sell its prepaid business to Dish. Also, T-Mobile will have to give Dish "robust access" to its mobile network for seven years. However, Paxton and the other AGs aren't convinced that the deal with Dish would lead to a fourth competitor to make up for the merger. "[W]e do not anticipate that the proposed new entrant will replace the competitive role of Sprint anytime soon," Paxton said.

Aside from New York, California and Texas, the other states seeking to block what their Attorney Generals are calling an "anticompetitive merger" are Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.