AT&T could sell 25% of T-Mobile to sway feds in favor of acquisition

By on Sep 2, 2011 at 7:15 PM
Business September 2, 2011

AT&T is prepared to make sacrifices in an effort to sway the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission in favor of its planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, Reuters reported on Friday. On August 31st, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against AT&T in attempt to block the merger, a move that is said to have caught both AT&T and T-Mobile USA’s owner, Deutsche Telekom, off-guard. “AT&T is pretty determined that they can find a solution, and they are pretty confident,” one source told Reuters, which noted AT&T’s “two-track” plan that includes possibly selling off as much as 25% of T-Mobile, including customers and spectrum, if the deal is approved. It is still unclear who could be a potential customer for the assets, however, as the government could investigate Sprint or Verizon Wireless if either carrier chose to purchase those assets. Reuters said U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle will preside over the case and said Huvelle is known for moving swiftly. AT&T has asked for an expedited hearing and the case could be heard within the next two months.

Read

Tags:
, , , , , , , , ,
34 Comments

Related Articles

  • http://www.allegrotechie.blogspot.com Allegrotechie

    Lets hope this doesn’t get through. 

    • https://plus.google.com/102862831744598656090/about Wesley Griffiths

      I’m hoping not too. I like being on a GSM network and don’t want to be an AT&T customer to be on that type of network.

      • Bullet Tooth Tony

        Then go to Verizon if you want a different GSM carrier… or go to Sprint in a few months.

        Or are you referring to the 2G TDMA technology?  Either way,,, GSM is a standard, not a technology… and there’s plenty of GSM carriers in this country… and yes, Verizon is one of them.

      • https://plus.google.com/102862831744598656090/about Wesley Griffiths

        Sprint and Verizon are CDMA networks. GSM phones use a SIM card while CDMA phones don’t (so switching devices is as easy as switching over the SIM). Verizon and Sprint can block phones from working on their CDMA networks, which I don’t like if I happen to want to use a phone they don’t approve of. They also use 3G over EVDO rev A which will not allow 3G data and voice at the same time, while GSM does. Verizon is too expensive and Sprint doesn’t have 4G where I live yet.

      • Anonymous

        please learn the tech before you start spouting nonsense

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000722296108 Herman Guerra

        An ur bluetooth dont work no more cuz it rotted and felled out.

      • Johnson

        You guys really need to do your homework VERIZON IS A CDMA NETWORK, T-mobile is a GSM, AT&T is a GSM, 

      • SpanD

        Except, you know, that one technology Verizon has been installing, oh yeah, LTE, that’s GSM, so YES, Verizon is a GSM carrier and soon to be Sprint. Do your homework buddy.  Go Bullet Tooth Tony!

      • Bullet Tooth Tony

        I love this… wish I had checked it sooner… Verizon is a GSM member company.  Verizon has been a GSM member company for 2 years now.  Another owner in Verizon Wireless has been a GSM member company since 1986.  GSM, again, IS NOT A TECHNOLOGY.  It is a standards group!  They tell their members what technology to use.  TDMA being the rights-free technological name first used and sold as “GSM”.  They then moved to an entirely different technology for 3G, called W-CDMA.  Also sold under other names, but it is Wideband CDMA.

        If, you meant to say, “I can’t use my 2G phone on Verizon because my phone uses TDMA and Verizon’s 2G was called cdmaOne when it still existed,” or, “I can’t use my 3G phone on Verizon because my phone uses W-CDMA and Verizon uses CDMA2000 1x/EVDO for 3G” then that problem is your own.  You can’t use a T-Mobile phone on AT&T and vice versa to get full functionality either… so go pound salt. Your beef is non-existent, Verizon Wireless is and has long been a GSM company.  Sprint will be announcing they are also a GSM compay in approximately 1 month now.  Get a clue, starting first by your need to quit referring to standards as technologies.

  • Bigbrothergenie

    The current Administration does NOT want to be associated with ELIMINATING thousands of jobs during a time of recession, and heading into an election year. This deal shouldn’t go through for that reason alone.

    • numetheus

      T-Mobile is shrinking their work force. If this does not go through there will be tons of jobs eliminated anyways.

      • MarkO11809

        TMobile is only shrinking their workforce in anticipation of ATT’s takeover. It looks better for ATT in the public eye if TMobile is getting rid of folks because they won’t exist anymore anyways. I was in a company that got swallowed up by ATT and saw how they handle those takeovers. I left voluntarily a year later as things progressively went downhill for working conditions. Do not believe it when ATT tells you that they will create jobs because it just won’t happen. Once All of the TMobile management is laid off, then comes the smaller duplicated positions like field service personnel, then additional office staffing folks such as project managers go. 5000 call center positions back from overseas won’t make up for all of the higher paid positions being lost.  This whole deal is an ATT scam.  Not to mention that ATT CLAIMS that they need more spectrum but don’t really tell anyone that they are already sitting on LOTS of unused spectrum now. ATT = American Thieves and Thugs

    • IPwn

      The current administration has no idea what they are doing when it comes to job creation. Unemployment numbers are outrageous.

      • Cer

        Of course the administration knows what to do; they’re just scared to do enough of it and/or Congress won’t let them. There is a lack of spending and job creation in the private sector. This means that the public sector needs to fill the void.

        It appears you think the stimulus did nothing, when it in fact did quite a bit, and now you are seeing the affects of the end of the stimulus, while the private sector continues to refuse to spend and employ people.

      • Anonymous

        The stimulus created 30,000 new jobs, but yet, it cost $250,000 per job — not every job created, mind you. It cost the American taxpayer $250,000 per job that exists in the United States to create those 30,000 jobs. Our current administration has accumulated $4 trillion in debt since 2009, and instead of cutting spending, they think the solution is to increase taxes. So, now there are business owners getting taxed to death, and they don’t have the necessary means to hire more people.

        For example, this past business quarter, there was 0% job growth in this country. This is the first time since 1945 that’s happened. The private sector can’t afford to employ people, because they’re being taxed to death, because the government spends money like Madonna at a dildo store.

        If both taxes and spending were minimized, our economy would take off like a bottle rocket.

  • A_g_ness

    Block the merger!!!!

  • Cer

    “as the government could investigate Sprint or Verizon Wireless if either carrier chose to purchase those assets.”

    I can understand investigating Sprint, because they want to block the merger, but why investigate Verizon? Hasn’t it not voiced opposition to the merger?

    • Anonymous

      Verizon doesn’t care. Sprint is the only one crying.

  • SG

    What a silly proposal.  Most of the recent wireless purchases had been required to divest off at least 25%.  The Alltel/VZW buyout was closer to 50%.   ATT is so desperate to get this done.

  • Roflmao

    “AT&T is willing to make sacrifices…”

    Are you bullshitting me?! Those greedy bastards at AT&T are greedier than some of the bankers in Wall St. This is as pathetic as AT&T saying they will bring back 5000 call center jobs in America, forgetting to mention thousands of more lay offs on T-Mobile’s side. Sure, BGR, sure. AT&T is really going to sacrifice something here… their customer’s usability of their network. 

  • Aj

    Whatever they sell can’t survive as a company. Whay good is spectrum unless you have it all, so why would sprint want the T-mob castoffs.

  • Rocfittedz

    How can you sell something you dont own???

  • Anonymous

    Sell em to MetroPCS. Everyone wins.

  • Anonymous

    How about… Still NO.

  • http://twitter.com/ggore Glenn Gore

    T-Mobile is on its way out anyway, Deutsche Telekom (sp?) has said they were not going to invest any more money in it in the U.S., so why all the angst about AT&T taking it over?   At this point they have good 1G/2G voice & text coverage, but virtually no 3G coverage anywhere in my state and just one tower of 4G turned on in one of the major cities, so they are a complete non-player in that dept.  I don’t know why anyone would sign up for them here.

  • Brandon

    25 percent deduction in workforce? Not a good idea by any means for the Govt to OK that one. If T-Mobile is going to reduce it’s workforce anyways, the Govt should allow them to do it on their own, and not help them.

  • Rob

    I think the DOJ should still block the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA. If AT&T is allowed to move forward – under the conditions of a 25% divestiture – such a decision would still leave AT&T as the larger domestic GSM provider, and whatever becomes of that cast-off 25% of customers and spectrum will largely be inconsequential to AT&T. The fact that AT&T is preparing to make a sacrifice suggests the company may be taking the DOJ action seriously; chalk up one point for the Government actually doing something in the interest of consumer protection. The notion that both AT&T and Deutsche Telekom were taken off guard by the DOJ action merely tells me that they are in a fairly common practice of not listening to their customers, many of which have been fairly vocal about a sellout to a company with one of the worst call-drop rates around. I was once an AT&T customer, in fact, I’ve been a customer of all the major U.S. wireless carriers at one time or another – truthfully they all suck; none of these companies do very much to expand their network and fix dead spots. What these company do well is market the hell out of their products and networks, and gullible American consumers line up like washed-up bums at a soup kitchen. Verizon Wireless has staked many claims, but at the end of the day they have had a sizable “Dead Zone” in my neighborhood for about 25 years; something that one would suspect could be filled with all those “billions” they claim to pour into their nationwide network. AT&T claimed to have the “fewest dropped calls”, but in fact they seem to have ended up with the most. Funny how that works, eh? While on their network in downtown Boston – inside an office building – I routinely experienced choppy service even with 5-bars of signal displayed and standing near a window. T-Mobile and Sprint both have mediocre service where I live, so I guess the only ones winning here are the carriers that charge $80+ a month for smartphone services, and the customers are the losers, forever contending with service that would be downright laughable anywhere else in the world.

    • FtKnoxTMO

      Since DOJ has found that AT&T and T-Mobile compete in 97 of the top 100 markets, let AT&T buy and keep the 3 markets they don’t compete in.  Figure it’s worth about $20.00, everyone happy, except the 12 folk that have to go with AT&T….(o;

  • MarkO11809

    It looks better for ATT in the public eye if TMobile is getting rid of
    folks because they won’t exist anymore anyways. I was in a company that
    got swallowed up by ATT and saw how they handle those takeovers. I left
    voluntarily a year later as things progressively went downhill for
    working conditions. Do not believe it when ATT tells you that they will
    create jobs because it just won’t happen. Once All of the TMobile
    management is laid off, then comes the smaller duplicated positions like
    field service personnel, then additional office staffing folks such as
    project managers go. 5000 call center positions back from overseas won’t
    make up for all of the higher paid positions being lost.  This whole
    deal is an ATT scam.  Not to mention that ATT CLAIMS that they need more
    spectrum but don’t really tell anyone that they are already sitting on
    LOTS of unused spectrum now. ATT = American Thieves and Thugs

  • Wise

    ALSO THEY SHOULD BUY OUT ALL THE T-MOBILE CONTRACTS SO THE T-MOBILE PEOPLE CAN GO WHERE EVER THEY WOULD LIKE. 

  • Anonymous

    Sell customers? WTF…. 

  • CMC

    Sell 25% to who?  Verizon?  Like that will help.  That’s all the divestitures always do.  Just sell a bit to the next largest competitor.  It will still eliminate a competitor and innovation.  TMO has a 42Mbps network where no one has.  And it doesn’t charge and arm-and-a-leg for using it like the duopoly does.

  • Wjgopwejgewjgiewp

    oh man, this is so retarded… seriously… T_T

  • http://twitter.com/m3th4mp Richard Ward

    I hope it doesn’t go through. T-Mobile could use that $6B of “cash and prizes” to further push its blazing 4G network. 

blog comments powered by Disqus