T-Mobile and MetroPCS can go ahead with their planned merger said the Department of Justice on Wednesday. Actually, DOJ didn't say anything - it didn't need to. It simply remained mum while the waiting period mandated by U.S. antitrust laws expired.

The deal still has a few regulatory hurdles left to clear, including approval from the FCC as well as the Committee on Foreign Investment, since T-Mobile is a wholly owned subsidiary of German-based Deutsche Telekom. Still, the merger is already farther along than last year's attempt by AT&T to acquire T-Mobile, which the DOJ sued to prevent.   

While the current deal is far from closed, it would be fair to say that it's mostly in the hands of the two companies' shareholders rather than the federal government. Libertarians rejoice.

The ostensive green light was expected by most industry analysts because even combined, T-Mobile and MetroPCS would still be smaller than the other Big Four carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile on the other hand, would have formed the nation's largest telecom, which would have had an immeasurable effect on the nature of competition within the industry.

The principal source of opposition to the merger now comes from labor unions, who argue that the merger will result in lost jobs. T-Mobile and MetroPCS have both already conceded that fact to the FCC, but stress that the job losses will be minimal.

Not so, writes the Seattle Times. According to the paper, around 100 T-Mobile employees are already expecting to be terminated as early as Thursday. With the FCC likely to pay special interest to the two companies' job-loss numbers, it's likely the move is a pre-emptive step that anticipates government mandates on who can and can't be fired. Libertarians lament.

While the fate of the merger seems pretty clear at this point, we've yet to hear anything about what might come of MetroPCS' racist series of commercials featuring Ranjit and Chad.