The Federal Communications Commission has made a formal request to AT&T, wanting to know more about its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile, America’s fourth-largest wireless carrier.
Specifically, the request asks about AT&T’s commitment to bring high-speed wireless access to unserved and underserved areas in the country. The company has said it wants to expand those services to 97 percent of the U.S. An AT&T spokesman took the request in stride, telling Reuters that such a query “can be expected given the detailed review they are undertaking."
It certainly is a huge proposal; an AT&T-T-Mobile megamerger would create a massive provider that easily surpasses Verizon Wireless as the carrier with the most subscribers in the U.S. The deal would add about 35 million subs to AT&T’s rolls.
The big question for regulators will be if there’s still enough choice out there among the giants and the smaller, regional providers. Sprint, which will now be a distant third, has been outspoken against the merger, but now hopes Apple’s iPhone will be its ticket to staying competitive, if speculation about the carrier getting the device next month turns out to be true. But smaller operators that don’t get exclusive smartphone deals might face the biggest uphill climb; that’s why industry groups like the Rural Cellular Association have come out against the deal.
It looks like the merger, which could close early next year, will have the backing of the majority of states. Earlier this summer, a number of attorneys general wrote a letter to the FCC supporting the deal, primarily due to AT&T’s promises of high-speed wireless expansion.
