monopoly

T-Mobile’s closing case for the California Public Utilities Commission review of its merger with Sprint boils down to trust us, it’ll be glorious. Opponents, led by the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office (PAO), say you gotta be kidding. T-Mobile (and Sprint and the California Emerging Technology Fund, but T-Mobile is the lead dog in that pack) filed final arguments on Friday, saying the CPUC should approve the merger. The PAO, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), TURN and the Greenlining Institute urged commissioners to deny it, because consumer prices will rise and rural communities will be left out, among other ills.… More

The $35 million deal to gain the California Emerging Technology Fund’s (CETF) support for T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint was done properly. That’s the ruling from Karl Bemesderfer, the administrative law judge managing the California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the transaction.

The contract, which also contains a long list of vague promises previously floated by T-Mobile, was challenged by the CPUC’s public advocates office (PAO) and two consumer groups, TURN and the Greenlining Institute.… More

The lawyerly squabbling over T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint continues in California, with new accusations of off the record promises and a defence of a $35 million payoff to a key opponent in return for its enthusiastic and wholehearted support of the merger. Amidst a growing list of disputes in California and increasing doubt over federal approval, T-Mobile and Sprint extended their self imposed deadline for closing the transaction to 29 July 2019.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the deal could run until then.… More

California is either heading for a proletarian broadband paradise or an economic meltdown of Venezuelan proportions. Following months of testimony, document dumps and stupid lawyer tricks, on Friday the companies and their opponents laid out arguments for why the California Public Utilities Commission should or shouldn’t approve the deal.

In two separate filings, T-Mobile (and technically Sprint, but it’s T-Mobile that’s running the show) mostly reiterated the same points and pleadings they’ve been pushing since the beginning: the CPUC is sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong and the merger will benefit everyone – Californian consumers, rural communities, low income and disadvantaged people, job seekers, employees hoping to keep their jobs, and the list goes on.… More

A $35 million payoff that, um, inspired the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) to “enthusiastically and wholeheartedly support” T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint was lambasted yesterday by organisations that still oppose it. The California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office (PAO) and two advocacy organisations, TURN and the Greenlining Institute, filed objections to the agreement.

One issue in dispute is whether it is a formal settlement, which has to be negotiated and reviewed under CPUC rules, or something else.… More

The odds of T-Mobile getting permission from federal and California regulators to buy Sprint are getting longer. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the federal justice department is reluctant to approve the deal in its current form. That has a familiar ring to it – it was the same kind of antitrust concerns that led to the justice department and Federal Communications Commission killing Comcast’s bid to take over Time Warner’s cable systems and do market consolidating swaps with Charter in 2015.… More