Specifically, AT&T is asking for the commission's approval to transfer spectrum licenses now held by T-Mobile USA to AT&T as part of AT&T's proposed takeover. It's an important initial step in one of the regulatory approval processes the AT&T must maneuver (the Department of Justice being the other), and it states publicly why AT&T believes the takeover is in the public's best interest (details below). and the also say they'll have a close look at the proposed takeover.

But it's Sprint that is making the most noise today. The company issued a statement voicing in no uncertain terms its belief that the AT&T/T-Mobile merger carries an both to U.S. consumers and to the wireless industry overall.

"It is an indisputable fact that this takeover would create an entrenched duopoly with control of approximately 80 percent of wireless industry revenues," says Vonya B. McCann, Sprint's senior vice president of government affairs. "This kind of leverage could strangle competition and give AT&T the power to increase prices, threaten innovation critical to this industry and eliminate American jobs."

The deal would make AT&T the biggest wireless carrier in the US, followed closely by Verizon. Together, AT&T and Verizon would indeed control more than 80 percent of wireless revenue in the US. Sprint, meanwhile, would be relegated to a distant .