Would the FCC Chair Nominee Really Have Approved the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger?

[Commentary] I want to tackle the current "Tom Wheeler would have approved the AT&T/T-Mo merger in 2011."

It's easy to say, "oh, all that lobbying for the cable and wireless industry was long ago when they were scrappy upstarts. Why, that was so long ago that the cable industry were battling the broadcasters and the wireless industry were battling the telcos (as opposed to these days when the cable industry battles the telcos and the wireless industry battles the broadcasters)!" But if Wheeler was actually a supporter of AT&T/T-Mobile, then it would seem to prove he still has sympathies to his old industry incumbent comrades. I confess I don't see the same enthusiasm for a combined AT&T/T-Mobile that some have seen. Mind you, perhaps I am unduly charmed by Wheeler's embrace of unlicensed spectrum, Wi-Fi and federal spectrum sharing back in October 2011 – well before his supposed cable masters embraced it and while his supposed wireless masters at AT&T and Verizon still rejected this as a "distraction" from clearing and auctioning. Or perhaps as a fellow who writes long-winded blogs on complex telecom policy I'm unduly sympathetic to complaints that one's blog posts get misinterpreted.

But in any event, it’s worth looking at what Wheeler actually said.