F.C.C. Seeks Review of AT&T Merger With T-Mobile

[alp227]

Source: NYT

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission took a step toward blocking the proposed $39 billion merger of the mobile phone companies AT&T and T-Mobile USA after the commission’s staff concluded that the deal would result in an overly concentrated industry and harm consumers, F.C.C. officials said Tuesday.

The decision by the chairman, Julius Genachowski, puts a second large roadblock in front of AT&T, the nation’s second-largest wireless phone company, in its effort to buy T-Mobile, the No. 4 carrier. In August, the Justice Department filed a federal antitrust lawsuit to block the merger, saying it would stifle competition.

Mr. Genachowski on Tuesday sent to the other three commissioners a proposed order to refer the merger to an administrative law judge for a trial-like hearing in which AT&T would be required to show that the deal is “in the public interest.”

That standard is required because the combination of the two companies would require a transfer of licenses to use the public airwaves for cellphone signals and wireless Internet access. The judge would weigh the evidence and render a decision, which then would be reviewed by the commission for a final judgment.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/business/media/fcc-seeks-review-of-att-merger-with-t-mobile.html

[msongs]

1. good. not interested in ATT higher fees and corporate scamming nt

[stockholmer]

2. some rare good news out of the US capitol city

:thumbsup:

[Crowman1979]

3. How ironic! I ditched AT&T's ass for Verizon today.

Those asshats kept giving a poor signal in my neighborhood.

[BiggJawn]

4. This is a joke, right?

Orange Julius is actually doing something *FOR* the consumer?

He must have decided to become a lobbyist for Verizon when his reign is over...

"Public airwaves"... They ain't public once Juli baby gets done auctioning them off to the highest bidder, public be buggered.

[Left Coast2020]

5. We need to be vigilant to make sure FCC kills this forever.

AT&T are purely evil.

:kick:

[tcaudilllg]

9. How could anyone conclude anything else?

[bluethruandthru]

6. It's about time the FCC stopped rubber stamping anything big business wants! n/t

[dpbrown]

7. But taking 30-some banks down to six is just fine

Hey, how about we all get phone coverage, and you break up the banks.

[CarmanK]

8. THE FCC is finally doing its job! It allowed FOX mergers, illegally.

It is about time the FCC took the public good into account in these media mergers. Prior to this time the FCC has allowed some grievous abuse of the public airwaves by media especially the spread of FOX.

[mrdmk]

10. Great, when AT&T took over my Cingular cell phone account the service went to hell

1) My voice mail no longer had a time/date stamp

2) Customer service had no clue what was going with my account

a) A sudden increase in charges

b) According to customer service, I no longer had an international plan and that would cost more

c) I needed an more expensive data plan to change from one smart phone to another

3) Lost of a tower in my neighborhood that resulted in poor signal at my home


In short, AT&T act stinks... Now they want my T-Mobile account.


More: Here in San Diego, we had a regional electric power failure a couple months ago. I could still use my T-Mobile phone for data connection (i.e. connect to the Internet for news) and phone for calls. People with AT&T (family and friends) could not make a phone call, more or less receive one!!!