AT&T bravely dismissed the Obama administration’s concerns about the anti-competitive effects of its proposed mega-merger with T-Mobile on Wednesday with a defiant statement.
Re-iterating its oft-repeated talking points arguing for the merger in a press statement, Wayne Watts, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and general counsel said: “We plan to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed.”
He added: “The DOJ has the burden of proving alleged anti-competitive affects and we intend to vigorously contest this matter in court.”
But in its complaint filed Wednesday with Washington D.C. Federal District Court Judge Judge Ellen Huvelle, Justice officials argue that it’s AT&T that has to prove its case.
“The Defendents cannot demonstrate merger-specific, cognizable efficiencies sufficient to reverse the acquisition’s anticompetitive effects,” argued lawyers Sharis A. Pozen, the U.S. Justice Department’s acting assistant attorney general and the DOJ’s flotilla of antitrust lawyers assigned to the case.
As TPM reported last week, officials at the Federal Communications Commission examining the merger asked for more hard evidence in the form of numbers from AT&T to bolster its case that its merger would better enable it to roll out its next generation wireless network to cover 97% of the U.S. population.
AT&T’s Watts also expressed surprise at the Justice Department’s move, since company executives had met frequently with antitrust officials, and had received no indication of the direction they were going to take. In a Wednesday morning’s press conference, Pozen acknowledged those meetings, but said that Justice officials had expressed serious concerns during those meetings.
Dallas, Texas-based AT&T is the nation’s second-largest carrier, with 95 million wireless customers. Bellvue, Washington-based T-Mobile is the nation’s fourth-largest, with 33.6 million.
Together, the merger would create the largest wireless provider in the U.S., leaping over Verizon.
Below is the full text of AT&T’s statement:
“We are surprised and disappointed by today’s action, particularly since we have met repeatedly with the Department of Justice and there was no indication from the DOJ that this action was being contemplated. We plan to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed. The DOJ has the burden of proving alleged anti-competitive affects and we intend to vigorously contest this matter in court.At the end of the day, we believe facts will guide any final decision and the facts are clear. This merger will:
- Help solve our nation’s spectrum exhaust situation and improve wireless service for millions.
- Allow AT&T to expand 4G mobile broadband to another 55 million Americans, or 97% of the population.
- Result in billions of additional investment and tens of thousands of jobs, at a time when our nation needs them most.
We remain confident that this merger is in the best interest of consumers and our country, and the facts will prevail in court.
It is in AT&T’s clear interest to fight the case in federal court, at least in the short term, to avoid paying a previously agreed-to breakup fee of about $6 billion to Deutsche-Telekom, T-Mobile’s Germany parent company, $3 billion of which would be in cash.
Carl Franzen
Carl Franzen is TPM Idea Lab's tech reporter. He used to work for The Daily, AOL and The Atlantic Wire (though not simultaneously, thankfully). He's never met a button that didn't need to be pressed. He can be reached at carl@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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