FCC's Genachowski hints at lack of competition in AT&T merger bid

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski won't talk directly about AT&T’s bid to buy T-Mobile, but he did hint at the agency’s thinking about competition – the key to determining whether to pass the deal.

When asked if the wireless industry is competitive enough, Chairman Genachowski pointed to an FCC report last May on the issue. And what’s interesting is that nowhere in the 281-page report did the FCC say the wireless industry is effectively competitive. That omission was significant, analysts say, because for all the reports before that the agency had concluded that there was enough competition. “We released a competition report that looked at a whole series of metrics and trends,” Chairman Genachowski said. “We looked at real areas of vibrancy and areas where there were questions and concerns.” Specifically, the FCC report found: “There appears to be increasing concentration in the mobile wireless market. One widely-used measure of industry concentration indicates that concentration has increased 32 percent since 2003 and 6.5 percent in 2008.”