Sprint Nextel has asked West Virginia's state regulators to review AT&T Inc's proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA and expects to file similar requests in other states.

Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider, is opposing the deal which would vault AT&T to first place in the U.S. mobile service market. T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom , is currently the fourth-biggest U.S. mobile service, trailing well behind Sprint.

Sprint says the deal would hurt competition and innovation. It has also asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to review the deal in combination with another spectrum purchase AT&T plans to make from Qualcomm Inc .

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Gunna Dickson)

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