meantime, ajit pai recommends the deal be approved. reaction we spoke with our correspondent who broke the story and the founder of boost mobile. >> approval from both agencies is needed here, as well as from the state's attorney general who are investigating the merger. it is common in telecom deals to have both the justice department and fcc review a deal. they both have different standards when considering approval. the doj is focused on competition, will a merger lead to higher prices? the sec has a much broader standard, that's the public interest standard. typically, they come out on the same side of the deal and work closely together. here, it looks like the doj is leaning against the deal while the fcc chairman announced he intends to recommend approval. emily: interesting. obviously, this has been a long time coming. there have been many twists and turns. both companies have suggested concessions they can make. but it sounds like the doj doesn't think there is not enough. what is your perspective on whether this is good or bad

we spoke to fcc chairman ajit pai from washington, d.c.jit: this will be a political debate that will engage millions of people, but we are going to stay focused on the facts and the laws. the facts are americans by and large believe in an open internet, but they want to have an infrastructure investment. they want the next generation networks to be built out. and so i think what the fcc does , not need is heavy-handed regulation that saddle businesses with lots of rules that simply disincentive rises incentivize -- disincentivizes them from building those networks. that will be the course we're charting henceforth. caroline: have you had commitments that if these rules are changed, they will invest? i'm looking at the profits of at&t, $14 billion. $8 billion if you are comcast, shares have risen since the original ruling of net neutrality. they don't seem to have really been hurt. ajit: if you look at the actual numbers with respect to investments, they are down 5.6% for the top 12 broadband providers in this country. and that does not ev

including ajit pai.ught up with him and asked for an update on the at&t time warner deal. >> it is limited to these particular facts, and as i understand it, the parties have structured the transaction so it will not come before us. >> give us what that is. the market is already expecting it. are we going to see more m&a in 2017? will you allow that to go through? >> this is a decision for the private sector to make. my job is to review the papers put before me and take a look at the facts and make a decision bassed on the law and precedents long-established. >> we spoke with tom wheeler, your predecessor at the fcc, and he was of the view that four players is what is need for the market. i wonder if three would be enough. >> i can't say what the structure is. it is extremely competitive. after the fcc started its investigation of free data offerings, all four now have unlimited data plans. that is a good thing for consumers. if it is in the public interest, then we would be more favorably inclined to ap

including ajit pai.p with him and asked for an update on the at&t-time warner deal. >> it is limited to these particular affects, and, as i understand it, the parties have structured the transaction so it will not come before us. >> give us what the market life is. the market is already expecting it. are we going to see more m&a in 2017? will you allow that to go through? >> this is a decision for the private sector to make. my job is rather humble and frankly a boring one which is to review the papers put before me, and take a look at the facts, and make a decision bassed on -- decision based on the law and precedents long-established. >> we spoke with tom wheeler, your predecessor at the fcc, and he was of the view that four players in the mobile space in the united states is what is needed for a competitive market. you said at the moment is is extremely competitive. i wonder if three would be enough. >> i can't say what the optimal competitive structure is. however, it is currently extremely competiti

ajit pai has been pushing it since his first day in office .are joined to discuss why the issue is so important. alexis: reddit has been fighting for the internet here in this is something that steve and i believe in personally, deeply. that gave us the chance to start reddit in an apartment with $12,000 in the bank. and 12 years later, we have built the fourth most trafficked site on the internet. net neutrality made that possible. emily: the site costar can you have a message there. other companies are telling users to take action. google is saying today's open internet ensures that both new and established services, they have the ability to reach users on an equal playing field. do you think this protest will make a difference? -- alexis: yes. it's been great to see more and more companies come and join our ranks. a lot of people remember the internet blackout that happened because sites like road test -- reddit and wikipedia were protesting and that helped the push to get title ii. that helped crystallize a lot of these laws. those happened

had toe: still ahead, we barcelona and bring you our secrview with the commissioner ajit pai.s is bloomberg. ♪ caroline: now to barcelona where we reported live this week from the annual mobile congress. it was notches tech leaders. regulators were there too. including ajit pie. we caught up with him and asked for an update on the at&t time warner deal. is limited to these particular facts, and as i understand it, the parties have structured the transaction so it will come before us. that is.s what the market is already expecting it. to see more m&a in 2017 question mark will you allow that to go through? >> this is a decision for the private sector to make. my job is to review the papers put before me and take a look at the facts and make a decision bait on the law and precedents long-established. we spoke with tom wheeler, your predecessor at the fcc, and he was of the view that four four players is what is need for the market. i wonder three would be enough. >> i can't say what the structure is. it is extremely competitive. started itsc investigation of free data offering,

fcc chair ajit- pai heralded the return to what he calls a free-speech market approach, saying it isime to restart internet freedom. the light touch framework that has governed the internet for most of its existence. joining us now, one of the people who voted to repeal it, fcc commissioner brendan carr, who was nominated by president trump. commissioner carr, thank you so much for joining us. you said today is a great day, many people say this is an awful day. what don't they understand? >> thank you for the question. it really is a great day for consumers, innovation and freedom. there is a lot of apocryphal rhetoric out there. here is the reality. we are voting to go back to the 2015 regulatory framework, the title i framework that the commission had in place for the 20 years before 2015. this is not moving toward some mad max version of the internet where isps will have complete free reign to dictate your online experience. the 2015 framework had strong legal protections for consumers. consumers will benefit from that without the harms we are seeing from title ii. emily: that sai