BYR Achieve · 镜像论坛

FCC Delays Vote on AT&T-BellSouth Deal By JOHN DUNBAR , 10.13.2006, 07:22 PM The Federal Communications Commission delayed a vote on the proposed buyout of BellSouth Corp. by AT&T Inc. until Nov. 3 at the latest after two Democrats asked for time to study last-minute concessions offered by the companies. The commission was scheduled to vote on the $80.8 billion deal in a special meeting Friday that never convened. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein circulated a letter among reporters that said in the previous 48 hours, new proposals had been made regarding the buyout that raised "a number of significant questions and complex technical issues for us to consider." They asked that the proposals, which were offered by the companies through Chairman Kevin Martin's office, be made available to the public. Martin responded in a letter agreeing to make the proposals available for public comment for 10 days, and set a commission meeting for Nov. 3, though the vote may come sooner and may not require a public meeting. Martin is traveling to China on Saturday. The proposed deal already was under fire by consumer advocates and some lawmakers who said it would go a long way toward re-establishing a communications monopoly that the government broke up more than two decades ago. AT&T released a statement Friday afternoon saying the company would discuss adding conditions to the deal "so long as they do not affect our ability to deliver merger benefits to customers and shareowners, given the intensely competitive environment in which we operate." The Justice Department approved the sale without requiring any divestment or other conditions on Wednesday, one day before the FCC was scheduled to vote. Despite the scale of the purchase, the Justice Department found no potentially adverse effects on competition. Adelstein called the decision "a reckless abandonment of DoJ's responsibility to protect competition and consumers." Martin then decided to move the vote back a day to Friday. Martin and his staff had been working since the Justice Department's announcement with AT&T to craft a compromise that would satisfy the two Democrats. AT&T's proposed concessions were made available for public inspection Friday night. For the first 30 months following the merger, the company is offering a number of consumer-friendly items, including free digital subscriber line, or DSL, modems to customers who want to upgrade from dial-up service and $10-per-month DSL service. AT&T also offered to donate $1 million to foundations that promote public safety and put forth a number of guarantees promising to limit charges for companies that use other parts of its network. The FCC's approval would have removed the final major regulatory hurdle in AT&T's bid to extend its dominance as the nation's largest provider of phone, wireless and broadband Internet services. When the deal originally was announced in March, it was worth about $67 billion. But the rising price of AT&T's stock pushed the value to $80.8 billion. Copps and Adelstein are in an unusually strong position on the five-member commission, which has three Republicans. One of those GOP commissioners, Robert McDowell, withdrew from the deliberations because he was a lobbyist who represented competitors of AT&T and BellSouth. Republican Deborah Taylor Tate was expected to vote with Martin in favor of the acquisition. If the deal ultimately wins all the government endorsements necessary, the San Antonio-based AT&T Inc. would get total control over the nation's largest cellular provider, Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of the two companies that serves 57.3 million customers. Consumer advocates and some lawmakers claim the government is well on its way to reconstituting the old Ma Bell monopoly, which was broken up in 1984 after a lengthy court battle. The newly expanded AT&T would have operations in 22 states. AT&T estimates that about 10,000 jobs would be phased out over three years. Combined, the companies generate $117 billion in revenue and operate 68.7 million local phone lines stretching coast to coast across the southern United States and up through the Midwest. The merged company would employ 309,000 people before any job cuts. The deal would further the reunification of the seven regional Bell telephone operating companies and one long-distance provider that were spun off from the national AT&T monopoly under a federal court order designed to introduce competition. Including BellSouth, the new AT&T would consist of four former Bells and the long-distance business, which was acquired by the company late last year. The other two companies created from Bells were Verizon Communications Inc., which dominates the eastern United States, and Qwest Communications International Inc., the phone company for most of the Rocky Mountain and Northwest regions.

[Forbes News] FCC Delays Vote on AT&T-BellSouth Deal