FCC's Copps not pleased with AT&T bid for T-Mobile
Reflections are seen in the window of an AT&T store in New York March 21, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The wireless megamerger of AT&T Inc (T.N) and T-Mobile will be a tough sell, said the senior Democrat at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in an interview with C-SPAN provided to reporters on Thursday.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said AT&T's $39 billion bid to buy Deutsche Telekom AG's (DTEGn.DE) T-Mobile USA "may be an even steeper climb" than the Comcast-NBCU merger, which he voted against.
Still Jim Cicconi, AT&T's chief of public affairs who is leading the lobbying effort for the merger, told reporters this week he was optimistic the merger would be approved.
The deal would concentrate 80 percent of U.S. wireless contract customers in just two companies -- AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).
Copps said he was concerned about the amount of power and influence the merged company would hold, given that two companies would virtually control the wireless landscape.
The merger requires approval by the FCC and Justice Department.
The deal seemed to be distracting the FCC from other issues, Copps said in the interview, which will air on Saturday. "This affects so much of what we're doing."
He said the "paradigm-altering transaction" could affect incentive auctions to compensate broadcasters for giving up some of their spectrum for sale to wireless companies.
Copps said if AT&T were to get a majority of the FCC on board, conditions for approval would need to include market-by-market divestitures and a requirement to preserve the openness of the Internet.
AT&T's Cicconi told reporters he expected regulators to hone in on certain areas. "We'll do our best to answer their questions and their concerns in that process, and if need be come up with creative ways of doing that," he said.
Cicconi said official merger documents would be filed with the FCC in a few weeks.
(Reporting by Jasmin Melvin; Editing by Richard Chang)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Enter Google with a ton of cash. Already a Sprint partner, thanks to the Android operating system, their Google Voice feature set is about to become a sexy option for all Sprint customers. Enter Comcast and Time Warner Cable, each with much-needed wireless spectrum ready to deploy, presumably in a way that gives them each a stake in a national platform. Is it possible — even likely — that the merger of AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile USA accelerates the coming together of Google, Sprint, Comcast and Time Warner Cable under a brand name like, say, Google Wireless?
Assuming Google were to be the dominant stakeholder, it would be Google’s ethos at the core of such a venture’s company culture: innovation for innovation’s sake at game-changing affordable prices — against which AT&T and Verizon would be compelled to compete. It would also give the Android operating system a key perch from which it can more effectively compete with Apple’s iOS and iTunes commerce chain. What’s more, it’s easy to imagine that a potential Google Wireless would be a proposition attractive enough to ultimately win a share of the US mobile business much bigger than Sprint has been able to claim thus far.
In short, it would be a win for Google, a win for Sprint, a win for Comcast and Time Warner Cable and, most important, a win for consumers.
The question now: will regulators examining the AT&T purchase of T-Mobile USA be thorough enough in their due diligence to recognize that this may be one of those rare occasions when consolidation actually leads to a better landscape for consumers?
Follow Reuters