AT&T: Forget T-Mobile Merger

Phone giant tries to duck antitrust concerns

(NEWSER) - AT&T is dead set on getting its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile past anti-trust regulators, and it’s developing a two-part plan to do so. While one of the telecom giant’s hands is preparing to battle the Justice Department in court, the other will be trying to strike a deal with it, sources tell Reuters . “AT&T is pretty determined they can find a solution,” one source said. “They are pretty confident.” More»

Urges FCC, Justice Department to block it on anti-trust grounds

(NEWSER) - AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile must be blocked on antitrust grounds, Sen. Herb Kohl declared today. The chair of the Senate subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights released a letter urging the FCC and Justice Department to step in before the two phone companies get hitched, the Wall Street Journal reports. The merger, he warned, “would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust laws and not in the public interest.” The Senate is powerless, however, to interfere directly in the transaction. More»

Say goodbye to competition, hello to gouging

(NEWSER) - AT&T's bid to buy T-Mobile is brilliant, writes Brett Arends for MarketWatch —for AT&T. For everyone else, it's "disastrous," if not downright anticompetitive. "It will let AT&T shut down a competitor, jack up prices, and save on customer service," he writes in a bleak look at the proposed merger. A fourth player "helped keep the other three at least semi-honest. If you think they’re arrogant now, just wait till they’ve cut this cozy club down to three." More»

The consensus: 'Ma Bell is back'

(NEWSER) - Reactions to the surprise AT&T-T-mobile merger are pouring in, and, not surprisingly, most conclude this isn't a good thing for consumers:

• The Bell telephone system—"aka AT&T"—was broken up in 1984 to increase competition, and the US telecommunications market was deregulated in 1996, again to increase competition. But this merger "effectively restores Ma Bell to her former girth yet allows the company to operate in a looser regulatory environment," writes David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times . "Consumers might wonder if they've been played. ... Ma Bell is back," and the only thing left for federal regulators to do is instill "new rules that address the shortcomings of our failed experiment in deregulation."

They yank application from FCC but haven't given up on the deal

(NEWSER) - AT&T and T-Mobile have unexpectedly withdrawn their merger application from FCC consideration. While the move hints at trouble for the $39 billion deal, the companies say they’re not giving up, Politico reports. Instead, they’ll focus on getting approval from the Justice Department—either by winning an antitrust lawsuit against the proposed deal lodged by the department or through a settlement. Still, AT&T is, for the first time, acknowledging that things could go wrong for the deal. More»