AT&T challenges Clearwire-Sprint mergerAT&T challenges Clearwire-Sprint merger | MuniWireless
Paul Kapustka | July 25, 2008 at 12:56 pm
As we predicted in our Sidecut Report on WiMax, the “new” Clearwire deal, with its heavy-hitter lineup of investors and their $3.2 billion in capital, was sure to attract the attention of the big telcos, namely AT&T and Verizon. In our predictions we guessed that the big telcos would turn up the heat on Clearwire any way they could, and today it looks like we were right since AT&T just filed a rather lengthy complaint with the FCC, suggesting that Clearwire’s merger application needs a bit more work.While politely suggesting that AT&T “does not fundamentally oppose the underlying transaction,” the big telco nevertheless accuses Clearwire of not accurately disclosing the full amount of 2.5 GHz spectrum it has access to, perhaps in an attempt to escape greater FCC scrutiny. Of the several complaints AT&T has, this seems to be the most worthy, especially since (as AT&T points out), other carriers (like itself) have been held to very strict spectrum accounting methods during mergers. As AT&T says:While AT&T does not fundamentally oppose the underlying transactions, the regulatory process must be consistent for all providers, and the FCC must subject Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to the same standard under which it reviews all other carriers.
(What that really means: Hey Kevin, slow these guys down!)
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