House, Senate hearings on T-Mobile/Sprint seen likely
Industry observers expect there will be at least one hearing each in the House and Senate, though it’s unlikely to happen before the November midterm elections. “I don’t think Republicans will deny [the Democrats] an opportunity to hold a hearing,” but “it’s probably going to take a long time” before that happens, said R Street Institute Technology Policy Manager Tom Struble. “I would expect Congress to wait until after the FCC has at least taken up the case for a while.” Any hearings would probably happen during the post-election lame duck session given the legislative cycle, he said. It’s “not completely unreasonable” Congress would wait until after the election to move forward on hearings, partly because Sprint and T-Mobile are only just beginning to officially make their case in Washington, said American Action Forum Director-Technology and Innovation Policy Will Rinehart.
