Without knowing much about the mechanics of acquisitions of this magnitude, how plausible is it that AT&T made the offer simply to prevent Sprint from acquiring

Without knowing much about the mechanics of acquisitions of this magnitude, how plausible is it that AT&T made the offer simply to prevent Sprint from acquiring T-Mobile and creating another competitor? I mean, if they're pretty sure the FTC would block them anyway, if they set a high price, they've just made it harder for Sprint to attain their size.