A preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice and lett...

questions, Stifel Nicolaus said Wednesday in a research report. “We do not think legislation or antitrust enforcement action is likely, certainly not in the near term,” the research firm said. “But we do see the stepped-up attention as increasing pressure on the FCC to take action on some subset of the issues and on the industry to consider modifying some of their practices.” FCC officials said this week it remains unclear what follow up steps, if any, the commission may take under Chairman Julius Genachowski. He and his staff are still in the process of meeting with FCC staff and getting a better handle on various issues confronting the agency. “We see this week’s DOJ and Senate antitrust actions as significant more for the informal pressure they put on industry and the support (or pressure) they provide the new FCC as it considers the range of issues including special access, roaming, [handset] exclusivity, and spectrum,” Stifel Nicolaus said. “Ultimately, the agency may find ways to address the competitive concerns without re-regulating, such as encouraging the carriers to extend to handset exclusivity the model they set by reducing early termination fees, making additional spectrum available to promote competitive backhaul facilities, or extending conditions to merger reviews. But we believe there will be intractable issues without a happy ending where the FCC will need to make the tough decisions whether to increase regulation.”