The New York Times reports:

AT&T said late on Monday afternoon that it had withdrawn its $39 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile USA, acknowledging that it could not overcome opposition from the Obama administration to creating the nation’s biggest cellphone service provider.

The company said in a statement that it would continue to invest in wireless spectrum, but could not overcome opposition by both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. It added that American wireless customers “will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled” by the regulators’ decisions.

I'm going to have to disagree with AT&T: This is great news for cell phone users. It's nice to see the U.S. Government stretching some of those anti-monopoly muscles. Let's hope this is just the appetizer for some new consumer-protection measures from the Justice Department and the FCC in the near future.