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Justice Dept. to Launch Antitrust Review of Telecoms

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 6, 2009 2:30 PM CDT
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(Newser) – The Obama administration is looking into the country’s top telecom companies, including AT&T and Verizon, to determine whether they’ve abused their market power with anti-competitive actions, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department is concerned that, among other things, the big players are locking out competitors through exclusive agreements with phone producers, as in AT&T’s iPhone deal.

Justice could also look into whether carriers are improperly restricting third-party services on their networks. The review is still in its infancy, and it’s unclear if an official inquiry will follow. But it’s a sign that the administration is taking a proactive approach to antitrust enforcement. One source says the health care and agriculture sectors could be reviewed next.

Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at panel discussion in this file photo.
Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at panel discussion in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
The AT&T logo is seen on one of it's buildings in San Antonio, Monday, April 23, 2007.
The AT&T logo is seen on one of it's buildings in San Antonio, Monday, April 23, 2007.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
wiley14
Jul 8, 2009 12:15 PM CDT
Hmm... didn't we do this in the 80s? And what happened? Good ole AT&T put themselves back together. I don't think that the monopoly is intentional (as a player in the telco market myself, albeit small), but to keep up with consumer demand, it takes a huge investment and about of capital. It's simply survival of the fittest.
Snarfeh
Jul 7, 2009 6:07 AM CDT
I used to work for one of the top telcoms before finally, literally, asking to be included in the next lay off. I can tell you without a doubt they would do anything to keep or increase their market power. I still have worthless stock options granted to me before a merger formed this company. It was this merger that made my stock worthless & I still get my stupid statement with the zeroes on it. I also still vividly remember a conference call in which I had to explain to the marketing dept. why a program they wanted to launch should not be launched. The reason? This program would double bill monthly access under certain conditions. The program was currently being used by a very small number of customers. If rolled out to the entire customer base with that problem, it would be catastrophic. The marketing dudes & dudettes all started joking & laughing about how much revenue the problem would generate. They were not happy that my revelation about the problem brought their launch to a stand still until the problem could be corrected. The reason it wasn't corrected prior to all this? The customer base on the program at the time was small, thus the cost to fix the problem was not warranted. Customer Care credited the customers who noticed the double billing when they called, but I have always wondered how many didn't see it & thus did not call. *Never* trust a telcom. Always review your bill carefully & call if you see anything funky. These are definitely the bills you want to look at closely each month.
BeatBlaster
Jul 6, 2009 9:54 AM CDT
BOUT FREAKING TIME!

 
Department of Justice • Verizon • telecom industry • antitrust • AT&T • Obama administration

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