Public Interest Groups Call on FCC to Combine Review of AT&T Acquisitions

On Wednesday, Free Press, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union and the Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to combine its review of AT&T's $39 billion takeover of competitor T-Mobile with its evaluation of AT&T's $1.9 billion spectrum purchase from Qualcomm.

Click here to view the letter: https://www.freepress.net/files/Qualcomm_Consolidation_Filing.pdf

In today's letter, the groups note that even greater harm will be generated if AT&T is permitted to acquire T-Mobile, and they ask the FCC either to promptly deny the transfer of Qualcomm licenses or, at a minimum, to consolidate the review of the two proposed acquisitions.The groups previously filed a formal petition to deny in the Qualcomm proceeding, arguing that AT&T already holds disproportionate market power and prime spectrum licenses.

The public interest groups made the following joint statement:

"The proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile would reshape the entire American wireless industry in a single stroke. Combined with the proposed transfer of Qualcomm spectrum licenses, approval of these transactions would further enable AT&T to suppress competition, stifle innovation and harm consumers. At a minimum, the FCC should combine its review of both the merger and license transfer in order to properly assess the joint impact of both transactions on the wireless market."