T-Mobile pays ex-FCC commissioner to lobby for Sprint merger

Enlarge / Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 17, 2014 during a hearing on net neutrality. (credit: Getty Images | Win McNamee )

Readers of Fortune on Monday were treated to an op-ed titled "I'm a Former FCC Commissioner, and I Think the T-Mobile-Sprint Merger Is Great for America."

The author is Robert McDowell, a Republican who served on the Federal Communications Commission from 2006 to 2013. McDowell's position on T-Mobile's $26 billion purchase of Sprint is no surprise because T-Mobile is paying him to help secure government approval of the merger.

"I currently serve as an advisor to T-Mobile," McDowell disclosed in his op-ed.