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FCC Opens Public Comments On T-Mobile-Sprint Merger (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the public-service-announcement dept.

Now is your chance to voice your opinion on the $26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. The FCC is now accepting comments as well as formal petitions to deny the merger until August 27th. The companies and supporters of the deal can then file oppositions to those petitions by September 17th, while a final round of replies has a deadline of October 9th. Engadget reports: Anyone can file petitions to deny, and you might expect to see some from consumer advocacy groups and industry experts who may be concerned over the reduction in the number of national carriers from four to three. The FCC has laid out a 180-day review timeline to determine whether the merger is in the public interest, but that's more of a guideline and there's no required deadline for the agency to issue a decision.

1 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. No, say something interesting. It's not a vote by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Opinion" is probably the wrong word. If your opinion is "Sprint sucks", nobody will pay any attention to that. You CAN say things they WILL pay attention to, though, if you're informed on the topic.

    I have been effective at influencing these kinds of things with regulators, but you have to know what type.of comments will be effective.

    This is an appropriate an effective time to point out things that they may not have thought about, finer points. It's not particularly effective to say "no, I don't want this", because it's not a vote.

    Regulators frequently require than before a merger, the companies must sell off certain assets, preferably to a smaller competitor, in order to maintain competition in a particular market. Suppose you know that in your area there are three carriers:

    T-Mobile is available to you
    Sprint is available to you
    Blaze Wireless is available a few miles away, in a neighboring town, but not in your area

    You could point out that the merger would create a monopoly in your area, but that could be fixed by having them sell the Sprint or T-Mobile towers to nearby Blaze Wireless. The combined T-Sprint would then have Blaze as competition in your area. THAT is the type of thing that can make a difference.

    Look into the details of the merger proposal. Do any of the details raise red flags? What should be changed? Suggesting changes that regulators haven't already considered can be helpful.