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FCC releases public report blasting AT&T's proposed takeover of T-Mobile USA
The newly released FCC report questions AT&T's claims about job creation and states the deal will "substantially lessen competition"
AT&T has called the release of the report "very troubling"
Published on Nov 30, 2011
As promised, the FCC has released its official report on the merits of the AT&T//T-Mobile deal. To say the report isn't a good thing for AT&T and Deutsche Telekom's proposed deal would be putting it mildly. The newly released report outright questions many of AT&T's job growth claims, states the merger will "substantially lessen competitions, and indicates that AT&T still may be able to cover 98% of the country in LTE even without the deal in the place.
More specifically, in the new report, the FCC states a merger of the two wireless giants "would substantially lessen competition and its accompanying innovation, investment, and consumer price and service benefits." Several things AT&T said deal wouldn't cause.
The public report also comes very close to accusing AT&T and T-Mobile of lying to the public about the benefits of the deal. From the report: "The staff finds the applicants' assertions that the transaction would create jobs in the United States to be inconsistent with AT&T's internal analyses and record statements concerning cost reductions from the merger," the report said. "The staff also finds that there are serious questions whether the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile would cause other public harms that are not offset by the claimed benefits."
As I'm sure you might imagine, neither AT&T or Deutsche Telekom were thrilled over the release. AT&T's chief counsel Jim Cicconi criticized the commission for releasing the report, calling the decision "troubling." He also wondered why the report was released in the first place, seeing as it had no bearing on any legal decision made over the deal.
The FCC, which said it released the report and finding in the interest of the public, had earlier in the day approved AT&T's request to withdraw its merger application before the commission.
Even with the release of the report, news has surfaced over the past few days that AT&T is working with Leap Wireless to still get the deal through the door. That new deal, an 11th hour plan of sorts, is really AT&T's last, best chance to get this merger approved.
However, even if they do manage to strike a deal with Leap, I'm still not sure it will be enough. We'll no doubt find out more in 2012.
Image Credit:mocoNews
