Home › DMW Daily › July 6, 2009

Report: U.S. Justice Department to Investigate AT&T-iPhone Exclusivity

Authored by Jay Baage on July 6, 2009 - 1:08pm.
Washington D. C. - The U.S. Justice Department has begun looking at big telecom companies to try to determine if they have abused their market power when signing exclusivity agreements with handset makers, such as AT&T’s (NYSE: T) deal with Apple (NASD: AAPL) and the iPhone, according to Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

While WSJ said the Antitrust Division's review was in its very early stages and was not a formal probe of any specific company, it gives fuel to the discussion online about whether the large wireless carriers are hurting smaller rivals by entering exclusive agreements with the makers of popular phones.

“While this does not appear to be a true example of monopolistic behavior, the government should play a role in helping to form standards and promote a more competitive marketplace. Ideally our phone purchase should be separate from our network choice. Hardware manufactures would compete in their design of phones, and carriers compete based on the benefits of their networks,” read one comment by “Ben” on the social media website Mashable.

Related link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5654LK20090706
http://mashable.com/2009/07/06/doj-iphone-att/

Published in DMW Daily, July 6, 2009
tags: Deals | Mobile | Law | Apple | Investing | AT&T | Regulation |



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