Consumer groups urge combined merger reviews for AT&T

Public interest groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to group together review of AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile and AT&T’s acquisition of spectrum from Qualcomm. The point, the groups said in a letter, is to show that if both mergers are complete, AT&T will disproportionately own too much 3G and 4G radiowaves and give it too much advantage over other carriers. The mergers “would further empower an already dominant wireless carrier to leverage its control over devices, backhaul, and consumers in ways that stifle competition,” Free Press, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union and the Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation said in their letter. “As with other mergers, the competitive impact of the two transactions in combination may be even greater than the impact of each separately.”

In a separate letter, Sprint, the Rural Cellular Association, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, MetroPCS and others also told the FCC to combine the proceedings. Steven Berry, the president of RCA, said: “It is clear that AT&T is doing everything possible to gain market dominance by making not one but two major spectrum grabs … Neither of these transactions will benefit consumers nor provide a path to restore competition to the wireless marketplace.”