In a stunning blow to the success of At&T and Apple iPhone deal, Christine Varney, an internet expert and U.S President Barrack Obama’s top anti-trust investigator has decided to taken an in-depth look into the Sherman Act, that allows the empowers the government regulators to investigate companies and organizations suspected of violating the anti-trust laws. The Department Of Justice has announced that, it would be scrutinizing exclusive At&T and Apple iPhone deal and other deals of the same nature.
According to Amol Sharma of Wall Street Journal,
“The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they’ve amassed in recent years.”
However, according to sources, the review of the agreements between communication companies and mobile device manufacturers isn’t an official inquiry yet and is believed to be just an overview initiated by the Justice Department. As of yet, the DOJ hasn’t give nay official indication, whether or not, this scrutiny might culminate into a full blown investigation.
As per the information given by some of the insides in this matter,
“Justice Department could explore is whether wireless carriers are hurting smaller competitors by locking up popular phones through exclusive agreements with handset makers.”
Deals such as At&T and Apple iPhone has severely hurt the competitive edge in the market and is also considered as a bondage for the consumers as they are left with no other option but to agree to the terms and conditions of the contracts, that many at times aren’t consumer friendly.
This inquiry will also focus on a grievance that has popped up regularly, about the phone companies not providing complete facilities on their networks even though they are fully capable of it. Many argue that, such malpractices need to be taken care of to ensure absolute clarity in terms of contracts and would also prove highly beneficial to the users as they might be able to acquire standalone mobile devices, without resorting to jailbreaks and other potentially harmful shortcuts.
Via The Business Insider.
