https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200402/09200344221/t-mobile-merger-closes-highlighting-vast-us-media-legal-policy-failures.shtml

T-Mobile and Sprint finally closed their controversial $26 billion wireless mega merger this week, opening the door to a new era in U.S. wireless with notably less overall competition and, inevitably, higher prices. The government, courts, much of the press, and many "top policy thinkers" of the era happily ignored 40 years of very clear global data showing that such consolidation in telecom reduces competition, raises overall prices, and inevitably results in a steady parade of layoffs. And most of them did for all the usual reasons, either rigid partisan ideology or the prioritization of profit above reason.

But the deal's approval was also rife with an unprecedented amount of corruption, fraud, and regulatory capture -- even for the U.S.