The FCC has today restarted the clock on its review of AT&T’s US$39bn acquisition of T-Mobile USA. The review was started in April, but the clock was stopped on 20 July after AT&T had announced that it would be submitting new models that related to…
The FCC has today restarted the clock on its review of AT&T’s US$39bn acquisition of T-Mobile USA.
The review was started in April, but the clock was stopped on 20 July after AT&T had announced that it would be submitting new models that related to the size of efficiencies made possible by the deal.
The FCC said at the time that it would restart the deal when the new evidence and back-up information was submitted in a form that would allow it to evaluate the data.
In a letter to AT&T’s lawyers today, the chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Rick Kaplan, said that AT&T had submitted the new information and answered the FCC’s follow-up questions.
Kaplan said that the FCC’s understanding was that AT&T would not be submitting any further revisions to the models, unless it was prompted by a request from the FCC or the Department of Justice.
“Based on this understanding, we are restarting the informal clock effective today. As such, today, August 26 2011, is Day 83 under the time clock.”
The letter was sent to Arnold & Porter, one of AT&T’s legal advisers for the transaction.
AT&T welcomed the FCC’s decision.
The company’s senior VP Federal-Regulatory, Bob Quinn, said: “The engineering and economic models we have provided the Commission confirm the extensive capacity gains and corresponding consumer benefits that the combination of AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s complementary assets will produce.
“Once approved, this merger will unleash billions of dollars in badly needed investment and will create many thousands of well-paying jobs.
