Don?t let Sprint buy T-Mobile, says New York Times

In a major editorial on the last day of 2013, The New York Times urged the U.S. Department of Justice to block Sprint in its bid to buy rival T-Mobile. Such a takeover would, “...reduce competition in an important industry that already has too little of it.”

The Times noted that in 2011, there were six national wireless carriers to choose from, today most Americans now have only four. The paper voiced concern that a Sprint/T-Mobile merger would present difficulties in joining two disparate wireless technologies. However, the editorial said, “... the main issue is whether consumers would benefit from the acquisition, and the evidence suggests they would not.”

Therefore, “... antitrust regulators should look closely at any proposal that would reduce competition in the wireless business.”

Preserving Wireless Competition (NY Times, Dec. 31, 2013)