| Friend,
T-Mobile is turning its back on Californians.
The company that shook up the wireless industry by ditching contracts and lowering costs is now pushing to merge with Sprint — a move that would lay off thousands of workers and disconnect the communities that rely most on affordable service.1
Tell the California Public Utilities Commission to stop this deal in its tracks — before it’s too late.
This merger would destroy competition and raise prices across the nation, but the impacts would be especially severe in California. For instance, in Los Angeles and Sacramento, a majority of wireless subscribers depend on Sprint and T-Mobile.
Here’s the good news: The California Public Utilities Commission is asking for public input on the merger from Californians like you. It’ll be holding hearings across the state and accepting written comments.
Use Your Voice: Tell the CPUC how this disastrous merger would impact your community.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) estimates that more than 3,000 Californians will lose their jobs if the merger is greenlit.2 These jobs are mostly in retail locations, and T-Mobile and Sprint stores are clustered largely in low-income neighborhoods because they actually serve people who live there.
This merger means that poor Californians would lose service or have to forego basic necessities to stay connected to jobs, education, health care and loved ones. It means that thousands of Californians would lose their jobs. Tell the California Public Utilities Commission to reject the T-Mobile/Sprint merger and protect the public from greedy corporations.
And in their comments at the FCC, T-Mobile and Sprint aren’t even pretending this merger would lower prices: their own economic models show that prepaid prices would rise.
Poor people are far more likely to rely on prepaid brands than middle- and high-income folks. And the reasons are really clear: These brands cost less and they don’t require credit checks. T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s prepaid brands, MetroPCS and Boost Mobile, compete with AT&T Prepaid for low-income customers. If this merger goes through, there will be only two national prepaid brands left.
Protect yourself and your neighbors from having to pay more: Send the CPUC a comment about why the T-Mobile/Sprint merger would harm your community.
Thanks for all that you do,
Nilda, Collette, Lucia and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net
P.S. If the T-Mobile/Sprint merger is approved everyone will pay more for wireless service — not just customers of these companies. Urge the California Public Utilities Commission to reject this deal. 1. “The T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Is Bad News. Here's Why,” Free Press, May 1, 2018: https://act.freepress.net/go/25409?t=10&akid=11976%2E10296224%2EEkAzJA 2. “Proposed Merger Would Lead to Fewer Jobs and Higher Prices in California,” Communications Workers of America, Oct. 18, 2018: https://act.freepress.net/go/30015?t=12&akid=11976%2E10296224%2EEkAzJA  |
