FCC Allows AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Withdrawal, Publishes Damning Report

FCC Allows AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Withdrawal, Publishes Damning Report

Carl Franzen

The chances for the $39 billion AT&T/T-Mobile merger succeeding have just gone from bad to much, much worse.

Although the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday granted AT&T’s request to pull its merger application from review, giving AT&T time to retool the plan in private, the FCC also published a damning, lengthy report outlining why it wasn’t convinced the merger was in the public interest in the first place.

<...>

Specifically, the report states that the FCC basically agrees with the Justice Department that the deal would harm consumers by reducing competition and resulting in increased prices and fewer service options in the mobile phone market.

The DOJ was conducting a separate review of the merger and filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T in September to block it. That case is still going forward, with arguments set to begin in a February 13, 2012 hearing.

more