AT&T and T-Mobile have faced quite a bit of opposition to their proposed deal over the past few months, not only from Sprint but also from Leap Wireless and the commissioner of the FCC. Today T-Mobile responded to the critics of the acquisition with a strongly-worded statement from Tom Sugrue, T-Mobile's Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. One of the choice excerpts from the response: "What is surprising, however, is their [the opposition's] repeated head-in-the-sand insistence that no spectrum crisis exists." You can find the full statement from T-Mobile below.

It's not surprising that T-Mobile has come forward to defend its deal with AT&T, especially given Sprint's recent explanation that AT&T can solve its spectrum woes without snapping up T-Mo. After today's statement from T-Mobile, I wouldn't be shocked to see a response from Sprint or one of the deal's other detractors sometime soon, so stay tuned for that. What do you all think of T-Mo's statement? Is a combined AT&T-Mobile the best way to solve their need for more spectrum?

T-Mobile Comments on New FCC Filings by AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Opponents
 
BELLEVUE, Wash – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Today, Tom Sugrue, T-Mobile Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, issued the following statement:
 
“The opponents of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger have had their final say as part of the FCC’s formal pleading cycle and, not surprisingly, they have failed to offer any credible arguments to support their view that the Commission should deny the transaction.  What is surprising, however, is their repeated head-in-the-sand insistence that no spectrum crisis exists.  As part of their application, AT&T and T-Mobile provided a compelling showing of their need for more spectrum to continue to provide quality service to customers and roll out new technologies in the future.  And the two companies have demonstrated that a combination of their networks and spectrum holdings is by far the best way to solve this problem and ensure improved service and enhanced innovation.  The FCC has long acknowledged the harmful consequences of ignoring the spectrum crunch, and we are confident it will approve our proposed market-based solution.”