As you may have read, just the other day AT&T announced its intended purchase of T-Mobile for $39 billion.  With the move, AT&T will be the largest mobile carrier in the nation, serving about 130 million Americans.

Many factors likely hastened the acquisition.  Chief among them is the lack of spectrum and related infrastructure for AT&T at a time when wireless broadband use is exploding (you may be reading this story on one such wireless broadband device – a smartphone or tablet).

The move is not a done deal, of course.  It needs regulatory approval from the FCC and DOJ.  And, this is where the horse-trading comes in.  There will be concessions. The trick for the company is to limit them, ensuring they’re narrowly tailored to the acquisition at hand.  The game for policymakers and anti-private property activists is to make them as expansive as possible, addressing policy considerations and other giveaways that could not be obtained in the legislative and regulatory arenas.

One area that will find increased scrutiny is the newly created Net Neutrality regulations – rules which were, many feel, strong-armed by the FCC onto the previously regulation-free Internet.  Notes Bruce Gottlieb, ex-Chief Counsel to FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski:

[T]he FCC’s recent network neutrality decision created less restrictive rule for mobile Internet access service, as compared to wired service, in part due to assumptions about competition in wireless. Expect calls to revisit this decision, as well.

This is not to suggest that the acquisition is bad for consumers.  In fact, I think it help them. They’ll benefit from a stronger company, which will more quickly be able to roll out the next generation of spectrum-guzzling, wireless broadband services we crave.  It will also spur direct competition, and competition in adjacent markets, such as landline broadband. The ecosystem for devices, applications and services will explode, too.  And prices – which have been below the CPI – will likely remain low and affordable (especially considering the added value of more bandwidth, enabling ever-more powerful tools on the network).

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From the AFP:

The five-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the rules aimed at safeguarding “network neutrality,” the principle that lawful Web traffic should be treated equally, by a 3-2 vote at an open meeting here.

The three Democrats on the panel voted in favor of the rules, which are likely to face legal challenges, while the two Republicans voted against them.

“Our action will advance our goal of having America’s broadband networks be the freest and fastest in the world,” said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

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It’s an eerie echo of last year’s health care debate, but without nearly as much public attention.  Another Christmas Eve, another sixth of the economy taken over by Washington.

This time it’s so-called “network neutrality” regulation.  President Obama’s Federal Communications Commission is obsessed with regulating the Internet.  They apparently won’t be stopped by common sense, courts of law, public opinion, or a resounding electoral defeat for big government policies.  They made it official last night at midnight when they announced the agenda for their December 21 meeting: the FCC is going to regulate the Internet.

Network neutrality (also known by the even more lovely sounding marketing term “open Internet”) is an outgrowth of the larger so-called media reform project of radical left-wing activists like Robert McChesney, the socialist founder of the misnamed group Free Press, which has enormous influence on the FCC, where its former communications director, Jen Howard, is FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s press secretary.

McChesney explained where net neutrality leads to SocialistProject.ca:

You will never ever, in any circumstance, win any struggle at any time. That being said, we have a long way to go. At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies. We are not at that point yet. But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control.

The FCC’s new rules, likely to be approved on a final 3-2, party-line vote on December 21, take McChesney’s first step.

Network neutrality sounds simple – force phone and cable companies to treat every bit of information the same way – but modern networks are incredibly complex, with millions of lines of code in every router, and constantly evolving.

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Amazon.com, the online retailing powerhouse, last week announced a shift in stance on net neutrality that has tech policy observers in the nation’s capital buzzing.

The company, a long-time backer of the controversial policy and member of the pro-net neutrality Open Internet Coalition, signaled in an op-ed by its Vice President for Global Public Policy, Paul Misener, openness to a compromise measure, which would allow what are known as “managed services” to be offered by Internet Service (ISPs) subject to certain conditions.

Specifically, Misener argues that “Internet content providers (and consumers) should be able to purchase ‘quality of service’ or ‘managed services’ from network operators on the same basis–equal availability and no harm to other content.”

Previously, net neutrality proponents had been unwilling to sanction the marketing of such services, irrespective of equal availability or non-prejudicial impact—a position still held by many on the “pro” side of the debate.

The shift was therefore dubbed a “major departure” by one expert tracking the net neutrality debate with whom Capitol Confidential spoke, and one that could have significant ramifications for the way the net neutrality battle plays out moving forward.

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