Sprint has been adamantly opposed to AT&T buying T-Mobile and it has even sued to block it but now Sprint and Cellular South have put these suits on hold based on the latest stumbling blocks to the acquisition.
According to Bloomberg, a judge delayed the lawsuits by request until Jan. 12 (which happens to be my birthday) because AT&T has until that date to tell the court if it will move forward with its attempt to buy T-Mobile. Basically, AT&T is facing long odds to pass regulatory approval – the DOJ is actually suing AT&T over it – so the Sprint and Cellular South lawsuits may not even matter in the long run.
Sprint and Cellular South were suing for a variety of reasons but the actual cases were limited to allegations that the merger/acquisition would impact access to handsets and that it would have a negative impact on mobile roaming. AT&T has fought too hard and spent too much money to just let this die without fighting until the last minute but it’s already looking like all the parties are looking toward fallback options.