On May 20, U.S. Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai and commissioners Michael O’Reilly and Brendan Carr announced that they would recommend that the FCC approve T-Mobile US Inc.’s merger with Sprint Corp., as modified. While these announcements secure FCC approval for the merger, they do not end Sprint and T-Mobile’s antitrust battles.

Despite FCC clearance, the proposed Sprint/T-Mobile merger remains under investigation by  antitrust enforcers: the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and several state attorneys general. Clearance by the FCC does not necessarily guarantee that the antitrust enforcers will follow suit. The FCC reviews transactions to determine whether they will be in the “public interest”; whereas, antitrust regulators focus solely on whether the effect of a transaction may be substantially to lessen competition. The FCC and antitrust enforcers historically have generally aligned the outcomes of their investigations, but the different standards of review mean that divergent outcomes are possible.

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