After first being announced last May with a preliminary expectation of a three month approval and closure process, Tracfone parent America Movil has received final approval from the Department of Justice and the FCC to close the purchase of Page Plus parent Start Wireless and integrate it into the larger Tracfone brand family.
The delay in the purchase process and approval stemmed from Tracfone’s current inability to conform to lawfully authorized electronic surveillance of its customers by government agencies under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), owing to its position as a virtual operator without its own communications infrastructure and its reliance on leased network access from carriers that already comply with the aforementioned act.
TracFone has now agreed to implement interception capabilities that fully comply with the CALEA and to report on its progress toward compliance every 30 days as a condition of the PagePlus acquisition approval. The FCC and Department of Justice have issued their official approval statements on the acquisition and the FCC has also posted a complete copy of the agreement signed by TracFone regarding the approval of the acquisition.
