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Justice Department Gives Up on Texting Inquiry

Jan 14, 2010, 6:57 PM by Eric M. Zeman

Today the U.S. Justice Department told the four major U.S. wireless network operators that it has concluded its investigation into alleged industry collusion over the price of text messages. Last summer, Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights subcommittee, charged, "The four [largest wireless] companies increased their text messaging prices in two steps—first from 10 to 15 cents, and then from 15 to 20 cents—within months or weeks of each other," even though "the cost to the phone companies to carry text messages is minimal - estimated to be less than a penny per message - and has not increased." During the course of its investigation the Justice Department could find no evidence of wrong-doing on the part of AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. The network operators assert that bundled messaging plans drop the average cost per message sent to far less than the 20 cents charged to customers who don't subscribe to a bundle. The FCC still has other issues under investigation, including the competitive nature of the wireless landscape.

Wall Street Journal »

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