AT&T-BellSouth Merger Expected to Get OK

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is expected to approve AT&T Inc.'s buyout of BellSouth Corp. without attaching any conditions to the sale, three people knowledgeable about the matter said Tuesday.

The merger, now valued at about $70 billion, would create a telecommunications giant with both the largest land-line and wireless networks in the nation. Critics say the government is well on its way to reconstituting the old Ma Bell monopoly, which was broken up after years of fighting in the early 1980s.

The Justice Department is expected to …