The WSJ headline: U.S. Sues to Stop AT&T Deal … Justice Department Says $39 Billion Purchase of T-Mobile Threatens Competition.
The Justice Department sued to block AT&T proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile, a surprisingly swift move that dealt a blow to AT&T’s ambition to build the largest U.S. cellphone carrier.
The government said the combination of the second- and fourth-largest cellphone companies in the U.S. would harm competition and likely raise prices for consumers.
Ken’s Take: As a marketing strategist, I preach “identify or induce market imperfections and seize the associated monopoly profits”.
As a schooled economist and citizen, I root for “perfect competition” – nobody big enough to control a market.
I think the gov’t has been misdirected and lax on anti-trust enforcement.
Yeah, the DOJ needlessly hassled XM and Sirius until they were both sufficiently wounded that the merger didn’t matter much.
But, there used to be about a dozen substantial oil companies. There used to be a lot of ‘major’ banks … now there are a couple.
Think “too big to fail”.
I want more cell phone competition.
Then, maybe, someday I’ll get reception in my home.
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Great graphic from the WSJ on the structure of the telecom industry click for interactive chart
The Homa Files 