According to Financial Times:
"We never really got to a thorough inspection (of the merger)," René Obermann, Deutsche Telekom chief executive, said Tuesday morning, adding that authorities never appeared interested in details of the initial deal and later concessions.AT&T wanted regulators to look at how the deal would benefit local markets, but officials focused on how it would leave only three major competitors--Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. As ZDNet's Larry Dignan put it:
The Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice wanted a No. 4 wireless carrier in markets so bad that they were ready to risk potentially killing one to make a point.Until T-Mobile comes up with a new plan, CNET's Marguerite Reardon foresees it even more aggressively targeting budget-minded customers, though it suffers by being the only major carrier without an iPhone. AT&T, meanwhile, still needs more spectrum to deliver the ever-increasing amount of data its customers use.