Can you hear me now?: The Tipline for 13 February 2019

We’re following the heads of T-Mobile and Sprint to Capitol Hill today for the first of two hearings on the proposed merger of the third-and fourth-largest US cell phone carriers. While Congress has no direct role in the approval of any mergers, it sure can make headlines. After news broke that T-Mobile executives had stayed at President Trump’s hotel in Washington, DC, at the same time that enforcers reviewed the deal, those headlines could be more political than the companies would like.