00-3864 South Austin Coalition Community Council, et al. v. SBC Communications Inc.

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“Plaintiffs … alleg[e] that before the merger both SBC and Ameritech were regulated common carriers, each a monopolist of land-lines service in its assigned territory. Thus plaintiffs allege a diminution in potential competition, rather than a merger between firms currently competing in overlapping markets. And this is fatal to the suit, because an exception to sec.7 of the Clayton Act carves out of its scope a merger of common carriers that do not directly compete.”

“Plaintiffs’ complaint concerns potential competition, for it acknowledges that SBC and Ameritech had lawful monopolies in local land-line service at the time of the merger. What plaintiffs want the district court to examine is the economic effect of eliminating each Baby Bell as a potential entrant into the other’s territory. That is exactly the line of inquiry that the common-carrier exemption to sec.7 forecloses.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Manning, J., Easterbrook, J.