Expect a Cozy Trump-Telecom Alliance

[Commentary] During the campaign, Donald Trump railed against powerful corporations and promised to prevent blockbuster mergers like the proposed $85.4 billion deal between AT&T and Time Warner. That was then. Since the election, President-elect Trump has been decidedly less interested in constraining the power of big companies, especially those in the telecommunications industry.

Investors and financial analysts are already betting that the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission under Trump will be more likely to approve mergers in this industry, including perhaps a deal between Sprint and T-Mobile. Trump appears ready to do away with regulations on this oligopolistic industry. As it is, a lack of competition for some services is driving up prices. Public interest groups, Democratic lawmakers and sensible Republicans in Congress ought to vigorously oppose Trump’s deregulatory agenda. This won’t be easy, but they could, for example, try to challenge policy changes by filing lawsuits against the FCC, a tactic the telecom industry has used countless times over the years to stymie or delay regulations they opposed.

When Senate Democrats pick a new FCC commissioner, they ought to pick a strong consumer advocate who will use the position to speak out forcefully for more competition in the industry and common-sense approaches like net neutrality rules. Susan Crawford, of Harvard Law School, and Tim Wu, of Columbia Law School, are two experts who specialize in telecommunication issues and fit that bill.