Three Grand an Hour? Probably Not But Expect AT&T To Spend Big

Most expect that AT&T will spend a significant amount of money lobbying to get its proposed merger with T-Mobile approved by federal regulators but $3,000 an hour? That's the figure one critic says AT&T has spent so far to get the deal approved by federal regulators.

AT&T announced in late March its plans to buy the fourth biggest wireless carrier T-Mobile, sparking a major lobbying battle. "AT&T is spending $3,000 an hour lobbying to pass this merger," Ernesto Falcon of the consumer's group Public Knowledge said. While AT&T's total lobbying tab of $6.8 million for the first quarter of this year does indeed boil down to more than $3,000 an hour, that figure includes lobbying on all the federal issues the company is following. In addition to lobbying in favor of the merger, AT&T listed a wide range of other issues on its lobbying disclosure form including patent, tax and health care issues as well as tech and telecom matters such as the Federal Communications Commission's open Internet proceeding and cybersecurity.