Hi there, Remember the awful T-Mobile/Sprint merger we’ve been emailing you about? Well, we’re one step closer to stopping it. The House of Representatives has scheduled two committee hearings this week to take a close look at the proposed deal — which means everything we’ve done to raise awareness about the merger’s many harms is working. It’s great that Congress is finally paying attention, but the FCC still holds the power to approve or deny the merger. We need your help to pressure the agency to reject a deal that would hurt communities of color and disconnect millions of low-income people in the United States. The FCC needs to stand up for the public it’s supposed to serve, not bow down to corporate interests. Sign our petition telling the FCC to #StopTMobileSprint. For nearly a year we’ve been fighting this proposed merger, which would raise prices, crush competition and disproportionately impact low-income folks and people of color. T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s own economists have admitted that prices would go up1 if the merger is approved, and the Communications Workers of America has shown that nearly 30,000 jobs would be lost.2 As if all of this weren’t enough, T-Mobile’s ploys to push the deal through just keep getting sketchier and skechier. T-Mobile CEO John Legere and other top company executives are spending tons of money to stay at the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., in what looks like a move to curry favor with the Trump administration.3 Tell the FCC to reject the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. We need our public servants to see this deal for what it really is: a classic case where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. While T-Mobile likes to talk about its supposedly superb customer service, what it doesn’t want you to know is that this deal would put its most vulnerable customers at risk of losing phone service. Poor people and people of color, who disproportionately choose T-Mobile and Sprint because of their affordable plans, would have to choose between putting food on the table or paying for cell service. We can’t let this happen. Tell the FCC to block this deal today. Thanks for all that you do, Nilda, Lucia, Amy and the rest of the Free Press team freepress.net P.S. Urge the FCC to reject the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, which would deprive millions of people of affordable phone service.
1. “Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations; WT Docket No. 18-197,” Dec. 18, 2018: https://act.freepress.net/go/30648?t=9&akid=12186%2E10296224%2EeXbxIo 2. “CWA to FCC: Proposed T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Will Cost 28,000 Jobs and Should Be Opposed as Currently Structured,” Communications Workers of America, Aug. 27, 2018: https://act.freepress.net/go/30649?t=11&akid=12186%2E10296224%2EeXbxIo 3. “T-Mobile Executives Repeatedly Stayed at Trump Hotel While Pushing for Merger Approval,” The Verge, Jan. 16, 2019: https://act.freepress.net/go/30650?t=13&akid=12186%2E10296224%2EeXbxIo |