In late November, AT&T and T-Mobile withdrew their application for FCC’s consent to their proposed merger because of an anticipated adverse decision signaled by FCC Chairman Genachowski, opting to focus their efforts on the Department of Justice’s antitrust case. The carriers’ apparent assumption was that the FCC would surely grant a re-filed application consistent with
Last week, AT&T bowed to reality as it and Deutsche Telekom withdrew their transfer of control application from the FCC, reportedly as FCC Chairman Genachowski announced his recommendation that the Commission adopt an order designating the application for hearing. Cecilia Kang reports on the applicants’ surprising move.
Harold Feld of Public Knowledge maintains that under
When carriers routinely reject risk-balancing contract provisions based on “the business case,” deliver standard agreements that effectively eliminate the possibility of damages no matter how bad their services in a given instance, or demand iron-clad “preferred provider” clauses, the only conclusion is that the carriers do not perceive significant competition. While aggressive carrier positions are
The FCC’s recently released Fifteenth Report on Wireless Competition reflects positive change at the agency. Under Chairman Julius Genachowski, the FCC is increasingly looking to more economic analyses of markets and competition and declining to endorse the conclusions of the major services providers that Wireless is competitive or simply restate the merits of longstanding policies.