“The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission took a step toward blocking the proposed $39 billion merger of the mobile phone companies AT&T and T-Mobile USA after the commission’s staff concluded that the deal would result in an overly concentrated industry and harm consumers, F.C.C. officials said Tuesday,” Edward Wyatt reports for The New York Times.

“The decision by the chairman, Julius Genachowski, puts a second large roadblock in front of AT&T, the nation’s second-largest wireless phone company, in its effort to buy T-Mobile, the No. 4 carrier,” Wyatt reports. “In August, the Justice Department filed a federal antitrust lawsuit to block the merger, saying it would stifle competition.”

Wyatt reports, “Mr. Genachowski on Tuesday sent to the other three commissioners a proposed order to refer the merger to an administrative law judge for a trial-like hearing in which AT&T would be required to show that the deal is ‘in the public interest.’”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "Fred Mertz" and "Lynn Weiler" for the heads up.]

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