T-Mobile’s Emails With Regulators Should Be Public, States Say

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. states trying to block T-Mobile US Inc.'s takeover of Sprint Corp. told a judge that sensitive emails between senior executives and federal regulators who approved the $26.5 billion merger should be made public during a trial that starts next week.

The records -- evidence produced before the trial -- would be crucial to the public's understanding of why the Trump administration approved the deal, Glenn Pomerantz, a lawyer for the states, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger in Manhattan on Thursday. The states, led by New York and California, say the merger will hurt competition in the wireless industry and raise prices.

“The public has a right to know,” Pomerantz said in his argument challenging claims of confidentiality by T-Mobile and Sprint over several hundred documents that the companies say shouldn't be seen by the public -- or their competitors.

Lawyers for T-Mobile and Sprint told the judge that the documents they marked as confidential are among some of the companies' most sensitive files, including information on current and future strategies, product pricing, spectrum assets and other trade secrets. The states said they agree not all the documents should be made public, but they disagree on where the line is.

Lehrburger ordered the parties to give the court binders containing examples of such documents so he can attempt to tailor a ruling that will respect corporate privacy while abiding by the district court's high standards for transparency at such trials.

The judge set a phone hearing for the parties on Friday. The trial starts Monday and could last two to four weeks.

Read More: T-Mobile-Sprint Trial on Track After U.S. Fight Over Lawyer

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth

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