Surrender by AT&T is victory for consumers and regulators

[Commentary] Even a behemoth like AT&T knows when it's licked.

Wireless users can notch this as an important win not just for a competitive marketplace but also for newly reinvigorated regulatory agencies that, for the first time in a long time, have ruled that bigger isn't always better when it comes to telecom services. Customers will be just fine as long as AT&T keeps competing and innovating to retain their business. And investment will continue flowing into wireless technology because everyone knows that smartphones, iPads and their ilk aren't going away. A company like AT&T stifles investment in its wireless network at its own peril. When a company with the size and breadth of AT&T seeks to erase one of only a handful of viable competitors, that's a play for market domination, pure and simple. AT&T wanted T-Mobile's wireless resources. But more important, it wanted T-Mobile's market share.

The Justice Department saw the deal for what it was, as did the Federal Communications Commission. And now that AT&T has decided to move on, perhaps it too will acknowledge that this was a merger too far. Until the next merger, that is.