US prepares to shake up phone industry

A decision on Verizon's $8.5 billion purchase of MCI and SBC Communications $16 billion takeover of AT&T is expected on October 12.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there are some sticking points. The Justice Department will not allow the deal unless the merging companies must sell some assets. This is mostly because it thinks that there needs to be some semblance of competition for high-volume business customers

One area everyone is concerned about are broadband connections. Regulators are considering requiring the merged companies to sell Internet access without requiring consumers to subscribe to phone services.

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