Why a T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Would Be Bad for The Public

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has now decided that a handful of promises, made just days ago by T-Mobile and Sprint, puts this $26 billion transaction in the public interest. But these promises are speculative, unsubstantiated, and entirely unenforceable. With a majority of the FCC seemingly in favor of approving the merger, the final decision now falls the Department of Justice's assistant attorney general for antitrust Makan Delrahim. Thankfully, he has shown a willingness to reject anticompetitive and anticonsumer deals in media and telecommunications, including the mergers of AT&T and Time Warner, and Sinclair and Tribune. This should be an even easier call both for the DOJ and for the courts.

[Gigi Sohn is a fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy, a Benton senior fellow, and former counselor to previous FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.]