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HOUSTON—Leap Wireless International Inc. filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile USA Inc., alleging the national carrier has been undermining competition and interfering with the launch of Leap’s Cricket brand in Houston.
Leap filed the suit July 10 in Harris County, Texas, and accuses T-Mobile USA of interfering with Leap’s contracts with indirect dealers in the Houston area. According to the complaint, Leap accused T-Mobile USA of devising “a strategy designed to hinder Cricket’s launch and to protect T-Mobile’s position in the Houston marketplace. This strategy included strong-arm tactics and intimidation towards any indirect dealers who conducted business with Cricket.”
Leap went on to say that T-Mobile USA had flown in about 40 additional managers from around the country to help police independent dealers in the Houston area, and had cancelled dealer codes, stopped paying commissions and pulled its wares from the stores of independent dealers who sold Cricket’s phones and service. The complaint also referenced a T-shirt that was allegedly distributed by T-Mobile USA, which featured a dead cricket and the words “Silence the Chirp,” as evidence of the larger carrier’s malicious intent. T-Mobile USA representatives have said that the company had nothing to do with producing or distributing the T-shirts.
Leap also alleged that T-Mobile USA is putting the same pressure on dealers in Austin, where Cricket service is slated to launch on Aug. 1.
T-Mobile USA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
