T-Mobile US faces DoJ fire over CDMA closure

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) hit out at a T-Mobile US plan to shut down a CDMA network used by partner Dish Network to run its Boost Mobile MVNO, expressing concerns the move would leave a large customer base without services.

In a letter signed by acting assistant attorney general for antitrust Richard Powers, the DoJ expressed grave concern about the planned nationwide CDMA closure, which it believes will impact Boost Mobile pre-paid services used predominately by less affluent members of society.

Dish Network took control of Boost Mobile from Sprint in 2020 as part of T-Mobile’s agreement with US regulators to gain approval for the latter pair’s merger.

T-Mobile plans to decommission the CDMA network on 1 January 2022, as part of its push to upgrade to next-generation connectivity.

The move met with opposition from Dish Network and was branded as anti-competitive by chairman Charlie Ergen. The DoJ explained the company approached it for help, with further action possible if the closure effectively leaves users stranded without service.

But, the DoJ did note T-Mobile gave adequate notice of 15 months before the planned shutdown, when only six was required.

Manufactured crisis
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert responded in a blog, stating Dish Network had dragged its feet regarding transitioning its MVNO users to the “superior 4G/5G world”.

He claimed Dish Network manufactured the “crisis”, with the dispute “about money, not customers”.

Sievert added if Dish Network was truly concerned about its customers, it “would simply take real action and get their customers new phones on time, before the network upgrade happens”.