The merger of T-Mobile-Sprint could be the subject of severe criticism in Congress

Earlier this year, T-Mobile and Sprint announced their merger. If approved, their combination will reduce the number of major wireless service providers in the United States from four to three. To date, 14 different organizations have written a letter to Democratic House leaders requesting a hearing on the proposed merger.

The letter, signed by leaders of groups such as the Open Markets Institute and Public Knowledge, was addressed to two of the Democratic House's most influential legislators, representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Frank Pallone ( D-NJ). Once the new Congress begins in January, the two legislators will chair committees with a supervisory authority on possible merger agreements.

"Announcing hearings to review the largest merger pending in the wireless telecommunications sector and one of the largest in the country's history would be a great first step toward implementing your vision: strengthen antitrust enforcement, protect consumers, promote competition and defend American workers, "wrote the groups.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in June with T-Mobile President and CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure, but no similar hearing took place in the House.

Nadler and Pallone have both commented in the past criticizing the proposed agreement between the two telecoms. In April, shortly after the announcement of the merger, Pallone wrote a letter to the current Republican President asking for a hearing to discuss the state of media mergers in the United States.

"We have not had a single hearing to examine the state of competition when the industry operates this change or how a loss of a competitor could affect consumers or workers," said the representatives. Pallone and Doyle. "The public deserves to know if further consolidation will accelerate or slow this deployment and what the change will bring to US workers."

Nadler, who will likely lead the House's Judiciary Committee next year, also criticized the state of antitrust law in the United States. In May, he said that "the decline in antitrust enforcement over the last few decades has been an economic disaster for millions of workers who have lost their jobs or have seen their wages go down."

Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission opened a comment period on the proposed merger, seeking public notice. The Commission has suspended the normal 180-day review clock, an informal approval deadline, in September. This will only be repeated after the end of the comment period in December.