(New York) – Antitrust Bureau Chief of the New York Attorney General’s Office Richard L. Schwartz today issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile:

“Attorney General Schneiderman looks forward to reviewing the Department of Justice’s complaint to determine the best course forward on behalf of New York consumers and businesses.

“Since March, Attorney General Schneiderman has played a major role in the review of the proposed AT&T, T-Mobile merger. Working in close partnership with the Department of Justice, this office has played a leadership role in a group of 26 states conducting interviews and gathering evidence central to this investigation. We have conducted numerous interviews of business enterprise customers throughout New York State and throughout the country to assess whether the merger would result in harm to competition to the business enterprise market, and closely analyzed the parties’ claims that the merger would lower costs and improve service to consumers.

“Attorney General Schneiderman remains particularly concerned that the proposed merger would stifle competition in markets that are crucial to New York’s consumers and businesses. This includes concerns about vulnerable upstate communities, where concentration in some markets is already very high, and the impacts on New York City’s information-intensive economy, which is particularly dependent on mobile wireless services. Simply put, the impacts of this proposed merger on wireless competition, economic growth, and technological innovation could be enormous.”