For FCC Commissioner Starks, a Johnson County (KS) native, jobs factor into Sprint merger

Growing up in Johnson County (KS), Geoffrey Starks could walk from his Leawood home to the Sprint campus in Overland Park. Starks, 39, sworn in earlier in 2019 as the newest commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, offers this piece of personal history to say that the FCC’s upcoming vote on T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint is more than just his first big decision. It hits close to home, where Sprint employs 6,000 people. “I know what Sprint means to Kansas City,” he said. “I believe in a muscular public interest standard in evaluating mergers and that is not only whether consumers will be harmed by mergers. Our public interest standard actually looks at whether consumers and competition will be enhanced. That includes pricing. That includes service. And that does include jobs as well,” Commissioner Starks said, speaking broadly about all mergers reviewed by the commission. “I don’t think it is improper for me to consider the impact on jobs, jobs gained and jobs lost.”