FCC's Copps not pleased with AT&T bid for T-Mobile

FCC's Copps not pleased with AT&T bid for T-Mobile
Reflections are seen in the window of an AT&T store in New York March 21,
2011.
Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

WASHINGTON | Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:59pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The wireless megamerger of AT&T Inc (T.N) and
T-Mobile will be a tough sell, said the senior Democrat at the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission in an interview with C-SPAN provided to reporters
on Thursday.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said AT&T's $39 billion bid to buy Deutsche
Telekom AG's (DTEGn.DE) T-Mobile USA "may be an even steeper climb" than the
Comcast-NBCU merger, which he voted against.

Still Jim Cicconi, AT&T's chief of public affairs who is leading the
lobbying effort for the merger, told reporters this week he was optimistic
the merger would be approved.

The deal would concentrate 80 percent of U.S. wireless contract customers in
just two companies -- AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of
Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).

Copps said he was concerned about the amount of power and influence the
merged company would hold, given that two companies would virtually control
the wireless landscape.

The merger requires approval by the FCC and Justice Department.

The deal seemed to be distracting the FCC from other issues, Copps said in
the interview, which will air on Saturday. "This affects so much of what
we're doing."

He said the "paradigm-altering transaction" could affect incentive auctions
to compensate broadcasters for giving up some of their spectrum for sale to
wireless companies.

Copps said if AT&T were to get a majority of the FCC on board, conditions
for approval would need to include market-by-market divestitures and a
requirement to preserve the openness of the Internet.

AT&T's Cicconi told reporters he expected regulators to hone in on certain
areas. "We'll do our best to answer their questions and their concerns in
that process, and if need be come up with creative ways of doing that," he
said.

Cicconi said official merger documents would be filed with the FCC in a few
weeks.

(Reporting by Jasmin Melvin; Editing by Richard Chang)