Open Markets: FCC’s T-Mobile/Sprint Approval "Massive Enforcement Failure"

Washington, DC — The following is a statement from Matt Buck, Reporter & Researcher at the Open Markets Institute, regarding the FCC’s approval of the T-Mobile Sprint merger. 

"T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint already threatened to dramatically reduce market competition and drive up bills for consumers as a result. But today’s approval by the Federal Communications Commission of the Justice Department’s settlement represents the culmination of two agencies’ overwrought attempt to see this merger through. Not only did Republican commissioners convey full support for the merger before they’d even read the DOJ’s settlement, but the FCC also didn’t put out the settlement for public comment. Nor did the FCC even stop to think that it should pause its review after news broke that Sprint may have defrauded the government out of tens of millions of dollars by exaggerating how many low-income people it served. While the FCC’s rubber-stamp of the merger is disappointing but not surprising, the group of states challenging the merger in New York next month represents our best hope of protecting our markets and making up for this massive enforcement failure."