Bloomberg

T-Mobile is offering a revised rationale for buying Sprint, a turn that critics say is a sign the carrier’s earlier arguments weren’t winning over US officials who can bless or kill the deal. T-Mobile told the Federal Communications Commission in a filing earlier in Nov that it needs the Sprint merger to help it compete more vigorously against giants AT&T and Verizon. In Sept, the company focused on how the tie-up would give it an edge in quickly building an advanced wireless network known as 5G, a goal of the Trump administration.

Billionaire George Soros’ philanthropic network ripped into Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg after the New York Times reported that the social media company pushed to involve the financier’s name to discredit its critics.

Sprint has been slowing traffic to Microsoft’s internet-based video chat service Skype, according to new findings from an ongoing study by Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts. More than 100,000 consumers have used the researchers’ Wehe smartphone app to test internet connections. Among leading US carriers, Sprint was the only one to throttle Skype, the study found. The throttling was detected in 34% of 1,968 full tests — defined as those in which a user ran two tests in a row — conducted between Jan. 18 and Oct. 15.

“We plan to put the consumer first by pushing policies that protect net neutrality, promote public safety, and provide meaningful privacy and data security protections that are seriously lacking today,” said Rep.

The United Kingdom is targeting the likes of Alphabet and Facebook by introducing a digital services tax that aims to raise about $500 million a year for the government. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond unveiled the measure in his Autumn Budget. He said it was designed to hit the largest internet businesses, not start-ups. It would affect profitable companies with annual revenues that exceed about $640 million, he said.