Friday, February 10, 2012

FTC, DOJ Clear Sprint's Virgin Mobile Buy

August 24, 2009

sprintvirgin.jpgThe FTC and Justice Department have given their blessings for Sprint-Nextel's planned $483 million merger with Virgin Mobile USA, officials confirmed Monday. Because Virgin, and its recent acquisition Helio are both MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), analysts did not expect the deal to raise serious antitrust issues and thus believed regulators would approve the pairing. The deal could still be subject to review by the FCC, which has yet to issue a public notice on the matter. Virgin Mobile holds a small number of international licenses, which need to be transferred and require approval by the FCC, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus said in an e-mail. In its orders approving Verizon's combination with Alltel and Sprint's purchase of Clearwire last November, the FCC reaffirmed its view that MVNOs and resellers should be excluded from its analysis of the competitive impact of a wireless merger, they wrote.

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Juliana Gruenwald

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Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


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Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.