US incumbent AT&T has been left frustrated by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to stop the clock on its US$780m acquisition of Atlantic Tele-Network’s wireless operations, which operate under the Alltel brand.
In a letter sent…
US incumbent AT&T has been left frustrated by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to stop the clock on its US$780m acquisition of Atlantic Tele-Network’s wireless operations, which operate under the Alltel brand.
In a letter sent to the parties by the FCC’s wireless bureau chief Ruth Milkman the regulator said it was concerned by the lack of detail it had on AT&T’s schedule to shift Alltel customers to its network.
“Despite several commission staff follow-up conversations about the importance of transitioning pre-paid customers, we have received no detailed responses from AT&T on its plans for transitioning ATN’s significant pre-paid customer base.”
Milkman said that because it needed the information to complete its review it had to stop its 180 day examination, on what was the 175th day, and would restart it once it had the required details.
AT&T’s executive SVP of external & legislative affairs, Jim Cicconi, said AT&T was “extremely disappointed at the FCC delay today on this small transaction. AT&T is ready, willing and able to make significant network investments in these rural territories to bring HSPA+ and LTE services to [Alltel’s] customers, an investment that will not occur but for this transaction.”
Atlantic Tele-Network said it still expected the deal to complete in a “timely manner,” but did not comment further.
The parties had originally said they expected the transaction to close in H2 2013.
On completion of the deal AT&T would acquire wireless licenses, network assets, retail stores and approximately 585,000 subscribers.
The acquisition includes spectrum in the 700MHz, 850MHz and 1900MHz bands which AT&T said are largely complementary to its existing network.
Alltel operates a CDMA network that covers Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.