I found this article in a newsletter I received today (
http://www.fiercewireless.com)
3. Congress meddles in AT&T/BellSouth merger
MEDDLES???
The only surprising part of the article are the representatives involved - several unlikely Rebulicans are supporting the FCC look at this issue. They must be feeling a lot of heat . . .
The first two paragraphs -
3. Congress meddles in AT&T/BellSouth merger
BellSouth and AT&T might have a difficult time getting their merger approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department as several congressmen are urging a delay and spectrum divestitures. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.) and Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.),wrote to the Justice Department asking to postpone the merger's antitrust review until a federal judge decides whether the Verizon/MCI and SBC/AT&T mergers are in the public interest.
Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), chairman of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) are urging the DOJ and FCC to force AT&T and BellSouth to divest their 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings as a stipulation to the $67-billion merger to prevent any anticompetitive warehousing of the spectrum. They fear the combined company will have little incentive to deploy WiMAX because such a move would cannibalize their own customers. The Senators want these agencies to "take whatever steps are appropriate to assure that competitive WiMAX services have the opportunity to develop freely in the marketplace, including the divestiture of spectrum if such divestiture is found necessary."
Related articles -
http://www.rcrnews.com/...
From the Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
http://online.wsj.com/...
Time are changing . . .