AT&T CEO’s surprise call from FCC chairman

A couple days before Thanksgiving, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson received probably one of the worst phone calls of his career. With no warning, the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski called on Nov 22 to say he was moving to oppose AT&T’s bid for T-Mobile by handing the merger application to an administrative judge.

During the call, Chairman Genachowski indicated that he would be circulating to his fellow Commissioners a draft order approving the Qualcomm transaction and a draft order designating the T-Mobile transaction for an administrative hearing. Chairman Genachowski indicated that the draft designation order would likely be voted in the next several days or weeks but the administrative hearing would be deferred until after resolution of the pending litigation with the Department of Justice. Chairman Genachowski made a similar call that day to Rene Obermann, chief executive of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom. Hours later, the agency revealed its plan to the media. AT&T’s stock dropped about 3.4 percent over the next day. The call came one day after Justice Department officials canceled a meeting with AT&T.