SO MANY counterfeit starts would absorb soured other romances. Resistance from antitrust authorities halted a union between T-Mobile and Sprint,America’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, in 2014. A row over merger terms scuppered talks last year. But the attraction never dimmed.
This week the pair announced an all-stock deal that would create a company with a heft similar to that of AT&T and Verizon. The joyful couple promises lower prices for customers, and higher profits for shareholders and a sharpening of America’s technological edge (see article). Regulators should be sceptical. The tie-up is bad for consumers; and there are better ways to build whizzy unusual networks.
Consumer welfare first. The international evidence suggests that cutting the number of big operators would be bad for customers. Research by British regulators...
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Source: economist.com