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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday May 21 2019, @11:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the uphill-battle dept.

DOJ Leans Against Approving T-Mobile's Takeover of Sprint:

The Justice Department is leaning against approving T-Mobile US Inc.'s proposed takeover of Sprint Corp., according to a person familiar with the review, even after the companies won the backing of the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

The remedies proposed by the wireless carriers earlier Monday don't go far enough to resolve the department's concerns that the deal risks harming competition, said the person, who asked not to be named because the investigation is confidential.

Opposition to the deal by the Justice Department's antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, would mark a rare break with the FCC. The two agencies work side by side on merger reviews and typically emerge on the same page about whether to approve deals.

Earlier on Monday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he would recommend approval of T-Mobile's $26.5 billion deal for Sprint after the companies offered a package of concessions, including spinning off Sprint's Boost pre-paid brand, to win regulators' blessing.

[...] More than a dozen states attorneys general are also investigating the deal and have raised concerns about harm to consumers. The states have signaled they may sue to block the deal even if the Justice Department clears it.


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  • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday May 21 2019, @09:00PM (2 children)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 21 2019, @09:00PM (#845929)
    While I might normally agree, in this case there is a very big downside if one of the two were to liquidate: their bandwidth would get reallocated. How do you suppose that reallocation would turn out? And let's face facts: One of them (OK it's Sprint, every one knows it's sprint) probably isn't going to be around in 10 years if left to themselves. I'd rather a third, larger player with the combined sprint/tmo bandwidth than ending up in a situation where AT&T and Verizon can monopolize even more of the available space by feasting on one of their corpses.
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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday May 21 2019, @10:16PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday May 21 2019, @10:16PM (#845953)

    That suggests a change of rules is in order: The cost of controlling new bandwidth increases with the amount of bandwidth you already own. That would be a useful method for the FCC to encourage competition rather than oligopoly or even worse monopoly.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday May 22 2019, @03:57AM

      by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 22 2019, @03:57AM (#846049)
      OK, you get that passed and I'll support not allowing the merger. Just reply here when it's done.