Ownership

On Oct 16, as a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, I voted to block the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers. But I am only one of five votes at the agency, and a majority of my colleagues have already voiced their support for this transaction. On top of that, the Department of Justice recently reached an agreement with the carriers, giving them a green light to combine. The largest wireless merger in history is now headed toward approval.

The top Democratic presidential candidates wrangled over their differing views on how to take on the unprecedented power of Big Tech, marking the first time the contenders have been asked to discuss the issue on the debate stage. Most of the candidates drew a contrast between their own views and those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who has called for breaking up top tech companies including Facebook, Google and Amazon. While other candidates agreed the government should take on Big Tech, they said they don't believe "breaking up" the companies will properly address issues including data p

What is the agenda that provides hope and opportunity for Americans in a new digital-based economy? So far, much of the campaign focus on the new economy has been reduced to a misleadingly simple “break ‘em up!” solution for Big Tech.

A days-long feud between Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Facebook intensified over the weekend as she openly accused the company of "taking money to promote lies." Facebook fired back via another social media platform, Twitter, where the company compared itself to broadcast television stations that ran a Trump ad and are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The "FCC doesn't want broadcast companies censoring candidates' speech," Facebook said.

The decision by Mississippi's Attorney General to switch sides to support the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger immediately triggered questions about whether other states would follow suit. But MS is unique in its decision—and there’s little reason to suggest a slew of other states will follow in its footsteps.

Commissioner Noah Phillips downplayed the Federal Trade Commission’s potential use of Section 2 of the Sherman Act to block anticompetitive mergers, highlighting its limitations compared with Clayton Act Section 7, the statute under which US antitrust enforcers typically challenge deals. For Section 2 to be effective in challenging a merger, the agency must show the acquiring company is overwhelmingly dominant.  “You need to have a monopolist,” Commissioner Phillips said.

Opponents of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger are piling on the deal in the hopes of convincing a judge the Justice Department’s settlement isn’t good enough. The DOJ’s agreement with the wireless companies has to receive final sign-off from Judge Timothy Kelly of the DC District Court, and critics want to make it a tough decision. Historically, the federal court review of a merger settlement has been an uneventful affair.

In a new filing, a group of seven economists and antitrust experts say a court should reject the Department of Justice’s proposed solution for the T-Mobile/Sprint transaction, calling it “doom[ed] ... to failure” and “a remedy that does not meet the standard of restoring the competition currently provided by Sprint.” For at least the next seven years, anyone buying service from Dish will just be getting rebranded T-Mobile service, and that’s not actual competition.

Attorney General Jim Hood (D-MS) reached an agreement with T-Mobile as an alternative to litigation against the phone company’s merger with Sprint. The following commitments were made:

Comcast's data-usage meter gave thousands of customers inaccurate readings for two months because of a software bug, causing the broadband provider to incorrectly charge about 2,000 users for exceeding their monthly data caps. Comcast has admitted the error and said it is giving refunds and additional credits of $50 each to customers who paid data overage fees that shouldn't have been assessed. Comcast said it's still trying to figure out if the bug is in the meter software, the billing software, or in the interaction between the two.