Failed AT&T/T-Mobile merger marks consumer victory

[Commentary] Foretold for months, the end of this year's biggest business merger has thankfully happened.

AT&T is dumping a deal to acquire T-Mobile that aimed to reshape - and severely limit - the wireless market. It's a defeat for telecom execs and bankers who pushed the $39 billion merger and for a flock of usually successful Washington lobbyists. But it's a win for consumers, open-market competition and antitrust lawyers in the Obama administration. Cell phone networks need updating as customer needs dictate. But this task doesn't mean that shrinking the market into a few corporate hands is the best or only way. Calling off this merger was the right move.