We’ve been reporting for a while that various competitors in the wireless marketplace are suing AT&T to stop that company’s takeover of T-Mobile. Both Sprint, the #3 carrier in the country, and regional carrier Cellular South have filed suits saying that the deal would create a universe in which only two carriers, AT&T and Verizon, would really be equipped to compete. Now AT&T has filed a motion to dismiss the cases.

From Politico:

The lawsuits “are an obvious attempt to use the court to improve their own strategic interests,” Wayne Watts, senior executive vice president and general counsel of AT&T, said in a statement.

This is more gamesmanship in what will be a drawn out conflict. Just about any major litigation will at some point feature the defendant requesting the case get thrown out before anything really happens. Rarely works.

The request doesn’t address the Department of Justice’s suit against AT&T.

This whole thing is going to go on forever.