Sector-Specific Competition Enforcement at the FCC

Abstract

This comment explains how and why sector-specific enforcement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) complements generalist competition enforcement by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to the benefit of competition in the communications industry. It illustrates ways in which a sector-specific agency such as the FCC can foster competition by comparing merger reviews by the FCC and DOJ in the wake of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.