Top US Antitrust Official Uncertain of Need For Four Wireless Carriers (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: The head of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division, Makan Delrahim, declined on Friday to support the Obama administration's firm backing of the need for four U.S. wireless carriers. Asked about T-Mobile's plan to buy Sprint for $26 billion, Delrahim declined to reiterate the view of President Barack Obama's enforcers, who had said that four wireless carriers were needed. Instead, Delrahim told reporters, "I don't think there's any magical number that I'm smart enough to glean." He also said the department would look at the companies' arguments that the proposed merger was needed for them to build the next generation of wireless, referred to as 5G, but that they had to prove their case.

Comments

The 1980's called...

[The Fat Bastard]

Ma Bell wants her children back!

Re:Technically Correct - The Best Kind of Correct

[Green Mountain Bot]

The market has no way to stop mergers that eliminate competition. Government intervention is literally the only way to do it.

We elected a Republican

[rsilvergun]

who's very pro-corporate. He then proceeded to pack his cabinet with pro-corporate lobbyists (mostly the same ex Goldman Sachs folks who have been running the show since Clinton). This isn't anything we shouldn't have expected. What I don't get is why anybody thought they were going to drain the swamp or change the status quo. The onion made fun of this, talking about how middle America was putting their hopes in a man who literally sits on golden thrones... Jeez. I don't even... I can't...