Submitted by CW Editor on November 29, 2011 - 7:31pm
A draft report released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Nov. 29 found that AT&T's proposed merger with German-owned cellphone carrier T-Mobile would not be in the public interest because it would substantially reduce competition among the four top mobile phone providers and raise prices for consumers.
This followed similar findings from the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as public opposition to the deal from senior members of Congress, and was not a surprise. The real “news” in the report was the FCC's finding that AT&T had publicly lied about the benefits of its proposed merger with T-Mobile — telling the public, media, and federal regulators that the deal was necessary to modernize its wireless phone network and would lower prices and create more jobs*, while its internal documents showed that its public claims were untrue.
