AT&T (T) and Sprint-Nextel (S) this afternoon issued dueling statements in response to Federal Communications Commissioner Julius Genachowski’s announcement this afternoon he will seek an administrative hearing regarding AT&T’s proposed bid to acquire the T-Mobile USA unit of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY).
The Wall Street Journal’s Amy Schatz observes that the last time the FCC moved for such a hearing was when EchoStar (SATS)�and DirecTV (DTV) proposed their merger in 2002, a deal which fell through.
In its press release, AT&T’s head of corporate communications, Larry Solomon, remarked, “It is yet another example of a government agency acting to prevent billions in new investment and the creation of many thousands of new jobs.”
Sprint’s head of government affairs, Vonya McCann remarked in an emailed statement that there are “serious concerns about the impact of the proposed transaction on competition” that “more than justifies moving this matter to an Administrative Law Judge for a hearing.�
The $39 billion T-Mobile deal, which would give AT&T a big lead as the biggest cellular carrier in the land, was first proposed back on March 31st. �Sprint complained to the government about the anti-competitive nature of the deal a week later, then in late May asked the FCC to block the deal. The U.S. Department of Justice in late August filed suit against the deal, and the FCC at that time was said to have “concerns” about it, developments that suggested to some analysts on the Street at the time that the deal was dead. Sprint filed suit in early September, and a U.S. District Court earlier this month upheld some claims by Sprint while dismissing some others.
AT&T shares are down a penny in late trading at $28.07, while Sprint shares are down 2 cents, or 0.8%, at $2.60.
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