Department of Justice Wants T-Mobile to Create New Competitor as Part of Sprint Merger Deal

 
The DoJ, Department of Justice seem to have handed over some new conditions for the expected merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, lay the groundwork for a new wireless carrier -- with its own network.
Looks like the solutions and concessions that T-Mobile and Sprint offered to gain the FCC’s blessing may have not been enough to convince the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim. He is still said to be concerned over shrinking the field of competitors and another carrier so the US will still be left with four at the end.
From the start, the biggest concern surrounding the T-Mobile/Sprint merger was it would reduce the number of national carriers from four to three, hindering competition. But the companies have argued that their deal would create a stronger No. 3 to market leaders Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc.
Bloomberg notes that discussions between the carriers and the DoJ have “been productive,” with both T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure seen outside the Justice Department on Wednesday.
hares of Sprint gained as much as 2.4% to $6.96 in late trading after Bloomberg reported on the discussions and then dropped. T-Mobile was little changed towards the positive side.

Now DirtBoxes Or IMSI Catchers Are Intercepting And Collecting Celphone Data

Dirtboxes are used by DOJ to collect cellphone data.

WSJ has revealed that DIRTBOX's (The name “dirtbox’’ came from the acronym of the company making the device, DRT, forDigital Receiver Technology Inc.,) carried by low flying aircrafts over the land of the free are collecting cell phone data, in bucketfuls, in digital form. The similar technologies are used by forces to catch culprits and terrorists in war zones and other foreign areas.

The local version, which is done, in a complete legal way, by passes ISPs, carriers or sell towers. They are searching for convicts, criminals and drug dealers.

“What is done on U.S. soil is completely legal, Whether it should be done is a separate question.” said one person familiar with the program.

The scanning is done by the Technical Operations Group of the U.S. Marshals Service, which tracks fugitives, among other things. Sometimes it deploys the technology on targets requested by other parts of the Justice Department. The "Dirtbox", is being used to mimic mobile phone tower transmissions from the sky and gather data from millions of mobile phones, helping the US Marshals Service track criminals while recording innocent citizens’ information.Cellphones are programmed to connect automatically to the strongest cell tower signal. The device identifies itself as having the closest, strongest signal, even though it doesn’t, and forces all the phones that can detect its signal to send in their unique registration information. If a suspect’s cellphone is identified, the technology can pinpoint its location within about 10 feet, down to a specific room in a building. Newer versions of the technology can be programmed to do more than suck in data: They can also jam signals and retrieve data from a target phone such as texts or photos. It isn’t clear if this domestic program has ever used those features.



It keeps on growing and I am getting tired, just reading about it. I can't throw away my phones because there are pay phone on the street!
Read and get depressed at WSJ.

Sprint Hails DoJ Decision To Block AT&T-Tmobile Merger

AT&T-Tmobile Merger http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Sprint issued an statement on Friday supporting the DoJ and seven state attorneys opposing the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, ATTT or ATTTMobile. Department of Justice amended it's complaint against the AT&T T-Mobile merger in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--This afternoon, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that seven state attorneys general representing California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington joined the department’s lawsuit against AT&T, T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom. The Justice Department filed its amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Vonya McCann, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) senior vice president for Government Affairs, issued the following statement:

“After a comprehensive review of the facts related to AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile, seven state attorneys general have reached the same conclusion as the U.S. Department of Justice: This proposed takeover violates antitrust law and would harm consumers, competition and our nation’s economy. This is a strong stand for American consumers, and Sprint commends this bipartisan group of state attorneys general for joining with the U.S. Justice Department to protect consumers, competition and American jobs.”

AT&T - T-Mobile Deal Opposed By DOJ!

AT&T - T-Mobile Deal Blocked By DOJ http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
We were surprised this morning by the reports on Bloomberg and the WSJ saying that the United States Department Of Justice (DOJ) is lopposing the AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile on antitrust grounds.
The news is scant but Bloomberg grabbed the following from the complaint filed in federal court stating;

“AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market.”

Later FCC chairman Julius Genachowski stated;

“By filing suit today, the Department of Justice has concluded that AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile would substantially lessen competition in violation of the antitrust laws. Competition is an essential component of the FCC’s statutory public interest analysis, and although our process is not complete, the record before this agency also raises serious concerns about the impact of the proposed transaction on competition. Vibrant competition in wireless services is vital to innovation, investment, economic growth and job creation, and to drive our global leadership in mobile. Competition fosters consumer benefits, including more choices, better service and lower prices.”

We were not happy about the acquisition but took it for granted that the deal will go through. In fact one of our colleagues was planing to defect from AT&T and go to T-Mobile but changed his mind after the news and is enjoying unlimited data voice service from Sprint. The AT&TT-Mobile deal was backed by Facebook and Microsoft, and 10 venture capital firms, Others include Yahoo, Oracle and the Research in Motion and was also opposed by many.
Of course AT&T is unhappy about the news and plans to take action. Should the deal fall through, AT&T will have to pay Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile upwards of 6 Billion.
AT&T's Wayne Watts,senior executive VP and general counsel released the following statement regarding the news stating that they plan to fight the decision in court;

We are surprised and disappointed by today’s action, particularly since we have met repeatedly with the Department of Justice and there was no indication from the DOJ that this action was being contemplated. We plan to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed. The DOJ has the burden of proving alleged anti-competitive affects and we intend to vigorously contest this matter in court.

At the end of the day, we believe facts will guide any final decision and the facts are clear. This merger will:

* Help solve our nation’s spectrum exhaust situation and improve wireless service for millions.
* Allow AT&T to expand 4G mobile broadband to another 55 million Americans, or 97% of the population.
* Result in billions of additional investment and tens of thousands of jobs, at a time when our nation needs them most.

We remain confident that this merger is in the best interest of consumers and our country, and the facts will prevail in court.

Yes we want T-Mobile, as a separate entity.
Via TechCrunch

Apple Losing Trust Over Subscription Requirements WIth. Antitrust Regulators

Apple Losing Trust Over Subscription Requirements http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
The Justice Department and the FTC are looking in to if Apple is breaking U.S. antitrust laws by forcing / coaxing media companies' customers into the payment system for its iTunes store which require a 30% cut, according to the people familiar with the situation, WSJ published,
The European Commission, have mentioned that the commission was aware of the new subscription service and was "carefully monitoring the situation.", according to EC spokesperson.

It looks like APple is trying lock down usrs and publishers within it's confinements as the tablet market currently Apple is enjoying is being encroached by Android tablets, some of which, like Motorola XOOM, are better and more expensive. I should know, I am getting a Motorola XOOM.
Subscriptions will not be a problem as I do not have any and music, I buy else where. But I hope those Apple fan boys realize what Apple is doing to them.
I hope if Apple is doing something wrong, hope the authorities will get them, but then again, what would I do in Apple's shoes, It is a free market!
Read more at WSJ with past and present FTC and Justice department interests on Apple's deeds.

Apple Trying To Dodge Antitrust Probe

Apple Antitrust probe http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Media is reporting that Apple is trying to dodge the antitrust probe by making amenments to it's developer policies it seems. The early indications showed that the probe was centered around Apple Adobe saga but now it seem to include iADs, the Apple's own advertising progrem. Just like prohibiting users from using third party tools like Adobe flash.
Apple also restricted users from sharing the user data with third parties, which is crucial in attracting advertisers based on demographics of the users of the app or the game.
Initial news came from New York Post about the probe involving the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission.The news about iAds, Apple's new mobile advertising platform for iPhone, iPod and iPad applications.The Wall Street Journal thinking that iAd, is reportedly under scrutiny after recent changes to Apple's developer agreement, preventing users from sharing the data with third parties, practically blocking any third party advertising.

WSJ

European Commission Approves Ciscos Tandberg Acquisition

European Commission Approves Cisco Tandberg Acquisition snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Cisco announced today that it has received anti trust approval from European Commission and awaiting the US DOJ approval to complete the Ciscos acquisition of Tandberg for $3 Billion.
The EC approval is conditional based on appointment of monitoring trustees. Department of Justice has announced that it will not challenge the proposed acquisition in light of the commitments Cisco has made to the European Commission. Cisco and Tandberg is also awaiting the ongoing discussions in Brazil.

"We appreciate the thorough and efficient manner in which the Justice Department and the European Commission conducted their review of this transaction, and we are grateful for the leadership and close cooperation between the agencies throughout this process," said Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco's Emerging Technologies Business Group.  "Cisco has always strongly believed that industry expansion and growth is best fostered through open standards and interoperability, and our commitments to the Commission formalize our approach in this area.  Our commitments will promote multi-vendor interoperability and contribute to the ubiquity of video communications, which will benefit customers, competitors and the industry as a whole." 

Cisco's commitments to the EC also include divesting its TelePresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) ownership and the library of open source software useful to implementers of TIP to an independent third party.  Cisco will also provide the third party, the industry body with all other rights necessary to implement TIP and authorize the industry body to license those rights to any interested party, royalty-free. 
 Cisco