Submitted via IRC for Bytram
DOJ to approve T-Mobile/Sprint merger despite 13 states trying to block it
The Justice Department plans to approve the T-Mobile/Sprint merger as part of a settlement involving the sale of spectrum licenses, wholesale access, and a prepaid wireless business to Dish Network, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
"The companies have spent weeks negotiating with antitrust enforcers and each other over the sale of assets to Dish to satisfy concerns that the more than $26 billion merger of the No. 3 and No. 4 wireless carriers by subscribers would hurt competition," the Journal wrote, citing people familiar with the matter.
As a result of those negotiations, the DOJ is "poised to approve" the merger and could announce a settlement with T-Mobile and Sprint "as soon as this week, but the timing remains uncertain," the Journal wrote.
Even if the DOJ approves the merger, T-Mobile and Sprint will still have to defend it in court because of a lawsuit filed against them by 13 states and the District of Columbia.
Would you rather they each fail and get gobbled up by AT&T and Verizon, or join forces to have a chance to compete against them... and join in a battle against the the consumer?
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday July 26 2019, @02:41PM
It's reasonable to say that the supposed tragedy of the commons that the phenomenon was named for is a fake thing that basically represented 18th century propaganda, but the conceptual abstract version of it is real as hell in cases like climate change. The net effect of sensible individual incentives can be deleterious to all.
And we've seen unregulated broadcasting become an arms race hell of trying to outpower your competitors and drown out their signal in your noise in history once already. Hell, home wifi seems a bit like that now.