FCC’s AT&T/T-Mobile Order

On November 29, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief granted AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s request to withdraw their applications to allow AT&T to acquire T-Mobile spectrum licenses.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “Competition is the engine of our free market economy and a cornerstone of the FCC’s mandate. Our review of this merger has had a clear focus: fostering a competitive market that drives innovation, promotes investment, encourages job creation, and protects consumers. These goals will remain the focus if any future merger application is filed.”

“Given the overwhelming mass of competitive concerns raised in the Department of Justice suit against the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T,” said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, “and the possibly even greater public interest harms identified in the FCC’s Staff Report, I welcome withdrawal of this application.” He continued: “This agency’s charge under the Communications Act is to look at not just the competitive effects but also the broader public interest implications of an acquisition. Despite repeated claims that this transaction will be a significant job creator, the staff, after thorough review, could make no such finding. Here is something else worth highlighting: T-Mobile has built a business model targeting budget-conscious consumers. With lower-income consumers increasingly thinking of mobile as their only broadband service, and with no guarantee the new entity will continue to serve this population, many consumers may find themselves priced right out of broadband. That is not a direction the country can afford to go. While I welcome withdrawal of this application, I would like to think we will no longer be expending significant FCC resources to examine this paradigm-shifting and complex transaction. I would hope the withdrawal is not a strategic gambit along the road to resubmission of this or a similar application in the months ahead. That would not strike me as a good route to travel. The significant resources the Commission has spent over these last seven months analyzing this proposed acquisition—and so many other consolidations that have come our way during my ten years here—would have been much better spent furthering the goals of competition, consumer protection and the public interest.”

“The staff Analysis and Findings concludes that the proposed merger would substantially lessen competition whether reviewed at the local market or national market level, and there are substantial questions whether the claimed public interest benefits would occur,” said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.