Calls for an investigation into monopolistic practices by US mobile operators have been answered with a review by the Justice Department that could quickly turn into an investigation.
On Monday the chair of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, Herb Kohl, wrote to the FCC and the Justice Department, regarding operators abusing their power through exclusive handset deals, price matching and refusal to make roaming agreements. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department has launched a review of the matter.
Herb Kohl's letter pointed to increases in the cost of text messaging as in indicator of the risk America is taking by having so few companies with such market share, describing it as a "warning sign for the state of competition in the cell phone market", while also calling for mandated roaming to allow smaller companies to compete more effectively.
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The FCC is already examining exclusive handset deals, to see if they unfairly benefit the larger operators. This follows a letter on the issue from Senator Kerry, so the operators should be suitably on edge by now anyway.
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