DoJ has “serious concerns” over T-Mobile CDMA shutdown schedule

Last week a internal document leak revealed important shutdown dates that T-Mobile has planned for T-Mobile and Sprint. Today, Department of Justice antitrust officers expressed their “Serious concerns” about that. Specifically, they expressed concerns about T-Mo’s plans to shut down the wireless network used by Boost Mobile customers.

These concerns were addressed by the ministry today as the division searched for a way to resolve the issue. After discussion, the DoJ sent a letter to lawyers for Dish Network and T-Mobile to address the shutdown. Part of the letter says:

“After careful consideration of the parties’ submissions and arguments, the division is left with serious concerns that a nationwide CDMA shutdown may leave a substantial proportion of Boost customers without service.”

Although the Ministry was unable to reach any “Conclusions today”, they will not hesitate to intervene if T-Mo and Dish cannot resolve the problem on their own.

Boost Mobile was purchased by Dish Network Corp. in an antitrust settlement that paved the way for T-Mobile to acquire Sprint. The prepaid brand operates on Sprint’s 3G CDMA network, which T-Mobile plans to decommission on January 1, 2022. Once that happens, the majority of Boost’s 9 million customers stand to lose service.

Dish acquired Boost with a seven-year network sharing agreement with T-Mobile. But with T-Mo’s plans to shut down the network next year, Dish has been caught off guard and its Boost Mobile customers will end up paying the price.

For its part, T-Mobile believes it has given Dish enough time to prepare for the shutdown date. Its CEO, Mike Sievert, believes that “This is a fabricated crisis, orchestrated by Dish, and it is about the money, not the customers.” The executive believes that “If Dish was really concerned about customers, they would just take real action and get their customers new phones on time, before the network upgrade happened. “

T-Mobile said they are also doing the same for Sprint customers who will be affected by the CDMA network shutdown. And comparing that to the number of Boost customers, it’s only a small percentage.

In the letter written by the DoJ, it will have no choice but to go to court to enforce the agreement, especially if the regulations have been violated.

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