Antitrust chief says a Sprint-T-Mobile merger would be ?hard?

William J. Baer, assistant attorney general (U.S. DOJ) for the antitrust division, told The New York Times that "it's going to be hard for someone to make a persuasive case that reducing four firms to three is actually going to improve competition for the benefit of American consumers.”

Although he didn’t mention the rumored Sprint/T-Mobile merger by name, Baer added, "Any proposed transaction would get a very hard look from the antitrust division.”

In addition, Baer said the DOJ would look at any mergers among cable television companies the same way.

Mr. Baer’s remark s echo those of last week from Renata Hesse, deputy  assistant attorney general for criminal and  civil operations at DOJ’s Antitrust Division. Speed Matters reported then that she praised competition, saying it leads to innovation.

CWA and Speed Matters oppose any merger between Sprint and T-Mobile because they would be bad for workers and consumers.

Wireless Mergers Will Draw Scrutiny, Antitrust Chief Says (NY Times Dealbook, Jan. 30, 2014)

Sprint takeover of T-Mobile may hit regulatory wall (Speed Matters, Jan. 24, 2014)