The FCC said yesterday that it has paused the clock on its review of the Sprint/T-Mobile merger. The move comes in response to recent submissions from the companies detailing the benefits the two companies say would be created as well as an expected submission about network expansion plans.
The agency has a 180-day review clock, which is almost at the 1/3 mark at this point. But since they can pause when they want to, it’s not really much of a clock. But I digress, it is the FCC after all. It has nothing at all to do with the impending midterm elections, which Ajit Pai would have to be certifiably insane to get tangled up in.
The clock won’t start again until Sprint and T-Mobile have ‘completed the record on which they intend to rely’ and the FCC has had time to read it. That will let us all pretend that we don’t already know what everyone involved is going to say and that the decision will be made upon the merits of the deal after careful consideration of the submitted material.
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Categories: Government Regulations · Mergers and Acquisitions · Wireless
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A merger of Sprint and T-Mobile is of no benefit to the American people.
How does it not benefit the American people? You have a carrier that will be actually compete with Verizon from a network perspective at a much lower price point without all the hidden “fees”, and a throttled “unlimited” plan…