Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the agency would “not seek an injunction to prevent T-Mobile from closing on its proposed acquisition of U.S. Cellular,” including U.S. Cellular’s customers, stores, and at least 30% of its spectrum assets in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. As Public Knowledge previously argued in its Petition to Deny filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the elimination of a wireless competitor and the further concentration of wireless spectrum holdings runs contrary to the public interest.
The following can be attributed to Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge:
“This is only the first of three major transactions dividing up U.S. Cellular among the top three wireless providers – AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile – making up what the Justice Department itself calls the ‘Big Three Wireless Oligopoly,’ that – if all transactions are approved – will control 90% of all mobile customers and 80% of all available wireless licenses.
“Although the Justice Department has decided to take no action, its analysis clearly shows these three transactions, taken together, will stifle future competition and inevitably lead to higher prices for consumers. As the DOJ declared, ‘we stand at a pivotal moment for the wireless industry.’ After a ‘decades-long trend toward consolidation-by-acquisition,’ the ‘risks to future competition due to further spectrum aggregation by the Big Three are acute.’
“We agree. We have repeatedly called on the FCC to review all three proposed transactions together, and to consider their comprehensive impact on American consumers. This announcement provides further proof that the FCC needs to consider all three of these transactions together under its broader public interest standard, and do what the DOJ under its more limited standard could not – either block the merger or condition it in a way that enhances competition and protects the American people. These conditions should include mandatory phone unlocking so that customers can more easily switch between carriers.”
You may view our Petition to Deny the Verizon/U.S. Cellular deal as well as our Petition to Deny the AT&T/U.S. Cellular deal for more information. You may also view our Petition to Deny the T-Mobile/U.S. Cellular deal.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.