The Department of Justice (DoJ) is conducting a review of a potential antitrust law violation on the part of the telecommunications industry, questioning whether some companies are abusing their market power. According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T and Verizon Communications are among those companies under the magnifying glass.
One topic of question is whether the large wireless companies are behaving unfairly by locking up popular phones—such as Apple’s iPhone—through exclusive hardware contracts, thus shutting out smaller rivals.
AT&T and Verizon hold a combined 60 percent of the telecommunications market, which includes 90 million landlines and over 160 million wireless subscribers.
The DoJ has demonstrated that it is looking to reverse the softer antitrust rules of the Bush administration, with Antitrust Chief Christine Varney having explicitly claimed so. The DoJ is also investigating the health care and agricultural industries, as well as Internet search giant Google.