FCC Chair Calls AT&T Staff Report 'Strong, Fact-Based'

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski defended the FCC staff report that concluded AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile was not in the public interest.

In a press conference following the FCC's December public meeting about AT&T's characterization of the report as an "unsupported piece of advocacy work," Chairman Genachowski laughed, and said it was "strong, fact-based work" based on a record of "thousands and thousands" of pages of submissions from various parties and many meetings. "The staff did excellent work," he said. The chairman said the FCC is always addressing issues on which parties disagree, but its job was to focus on the facts and "make its best judgment about what meets our statutory objectives..." He did not comment on why the FCC lowered the so-called spectrum screen -- the amount of a merger's resulting spectrum consolidation in a geographic market that triggers further review -- for the AT&T deal. But he did say all the staffs work was based on the facts and FCC procedures. "We did our work consistent with the statute to focus on facts and run a fair process."