What they're saying: Judge blesses T-Mobile-Sprint deal

OTI senior counsel Joshua Stager is quoted in Axios discussing a court ruling allowing for a T-Mobile-Sprint merger and what it means for consumers and the economy.

Sprint and T-Mobile on Tuesday hailed a federal judge's ruling that should pave the way for their deal to be completed, while opponents worried that consumers will ultimately end up paying more.

Why it matters: The decision turns back a legal challenge from a coalition of state attorneys general that had been the largest remaining hurdle for the deal, though it still requires a few more approvals.

Joshua Stager, senior counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute: "Today's decision is a tremendous loss for consumers, the American economy, and antitrust law itself... Markets don’t recover from mergers like this one—they turn into oligopolies marked by high prices, collusion, and inequality. Unfortunately, the court fundamentally misunderstood how the wireless market operates, and consumers will quite literally pay the price for its misguided ruling."