Lawmakers wooed on mega-merger

The Capitol Hill lobbying campaign surrounding the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile continues to escalate.

Proponents of the deal are circulating a letter on Capitol Hill that touts its potential benefits. They are seeking to persuade Democratic members — particularly those who represent rural districts — to sign on in support of the increased broadband coverage that advocates say will result from the acquisition. But public interest group Free Press has sent its own letter to House and Senate leaders, suggesting that AT&T’s promises to bring broadband to rural America as a result of its deal with T-Mobile are “greatly overstated.” The dueling letters underscore the massive lobbying operations at work on Capitol Hill to cajole members to take sides. Lawmakers in both chambers are spending a lot of time trying to find ways to allocate spectrum most efficiently in order to expand wireless broadband services to every pocket of the country. That emphasis bleeds into the debate on the $39 billion deal’s effect on rural consumers and wireless markets.