AT&T withdraws FCC approval application for T-Mobile merger

If you’re the type that believes in negative energy and whatnot, it appears that with all of their detractors and even the government going against their merger, AT&T has withdrawn their application from the FCC that requested approval for a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, a deal that was valued at $39 billion.

For those who have not been following the saga, AT&T earlier this year announced their plans to acquire T-Mobile. As we had mentioned earlier this deal was valued at $39 billion, and through this merger the number of major carriers would effectively be reduced to three – AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. With T-Mobile out of the picture it would make Sprint the smallest of the three and naturally this caused them a great deal of worry.

Worried about anti-competitiveness and possible violation of antitrust laws, Sprint, the Department of Justice and smaller carriers have all attempted to put a stop to this merger through legal means. AT&T and T-Mobile have claimed that this deal would have created more jobs, but the US government has claimed that this merger would have resulted in massive job loss and higher prices. AT&T is expected to pay T-Mobile a $4 billion breakup fee should the deal fall through, but it seems that they are not going to give up.

“AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG are continuing to pursue the sale of Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. wireless assets to AT&T and are taking this step to facilitate the consideration of all options at the FCC and to focus their continuing efforts on obtaining antitrust clearance for the transaction from the Department of Justice either through the litigation pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 1:11-cv-01560 (ESH) or alternate means.  As soon as practical, AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG intend to seek the necessary FCC approval.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: acquisition, AT&T, FCC, merger, T-Mobile