State Utilities Commission Won’t Condone Merger Until April 16 Vote

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said Thursday that T-Mobile and Sprint are prohibited from merging until it says so. Although the CPUC put out a proposal to approve the deal earlier this month, they said their decision is not binding until they officially vote on it on April 16. Both companies have California subsidiaries that are public utility telephone corporations under state law, and subject to the jurisdiction of the commission.

The PUC issued the following comment: “Public Utilities Code Section 854(a) states in relevant part that “[n]o person or corporation, whether or not organized under the laws of this state, shall merge, acquire, or control … either directly or indirectly, any public utility organized and doing business in this state without first securing authorization to do so from the commission. The merger of the companies’ operations in California is therefore subject to CPUC approval. Accordingly, Joint Applicants shall not begin merger of their California operations until after the CPUC issues a final decision on the pending applications.” Continue Reading