Carr: No 'Magic Number' of National Wireless Carriers Needed to Ensure Competition
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told reporters Thursday he wasn’t surprised by DOJ's analysis of T-Mobile’s buy of UScellular wireless assets (see 2507110045). Gail Slater, Antitrust Division chief, raised concerns about the loss of UScellular as a competitor and the overall competitiveness of the U.S. wireless sector. “The stark facts of today merit our immediate attention: together, the Big 3 account for more than 90 percent of the roughly 335 million mobile subscriptions in the United States,” Slater said.
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“DOJ has their approach on antitrust and competition,” which “sits next to” the FCC’s public interest analysis, Carr said. “There’s not a particular magic number” of national carriers to ensure a competitive market, he said. “We’ve never said that we need three or four or five or two,” he said. “We’re always looking at a confluence of different factors to make sure that there’s sufficient competition,” he said. “It’s a dynamic situation right now” where traditional wireless carriers aren’t just competing with each other, Carr said, noting that the providers taking the largest market share are cable operators. “There’s a lot of competition right now.”