T-Mobile Proves That Mergers Can Benefit Consumers

The government has become increasingly suspicious of major mergers over the past decade, under both political parties. The Justice Department under Donald Trump sued to prevent AT&T from buying Time Warner. The Federal Trade Commission under President Biden is continuing a case the Trump administration initiated against Meta, parent of Facebook, to force the firm to cough up Instagram and WhatsApp, which it swallowed during the Obama years. In January JetBlue Airways’ plans to merge with Spirit Airlines and Amazon’s plans to acquire iRobot were deterred under regulatory pressure.

 In April 2020, however, T-Mobile and Sprint managed to sneak past regulators, merging to reduce the number of major U.S. mobile networks from four to three. Paytm parent, One97 Communication Ltd, confirmed on Wednesday that it has received notices from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), requesting information on customers who have conducted business with its group companies. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, owner of Paytm, informed the stock exchanges in a filing that the company has furnished the necessary information and documents to the investigating agency.

“The company and its associate have continued to provide such information, documents and explanations to the authorities as is being required by them. We would also like to clarify that our associate Paytm Payments Bank Ltd does not undertake outward foreign remittance," said the company. The clarification came a day after Mint reported that the ED has initiated a probe into suspected breaches at Paytm Payments Bank following a referral from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The Enforcement Directorate is currently verifying the information it has received from RBI. "The next step will depend on the outcome of this verification," said a person aware of the developments.As of Wednesday, ED is yet to file an enforcement case information report (ECIR), a formal entry of a complaint lodged by the agency.