Justice Dept. to AT&T, T-Mobile: Get Thee Back to the FCC!

A DOJ lawyer announces the agency’s intention to file for a suspension of the case

AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile hit yet another roadblock on Friday as a Department of Justice lawyer said his agency would file a motion that could delay the legal challenge of the deal for months.

Joseph Wayland told U.S. District Court Judge Ellen S. Huvelle that the case no longer needed to be expedited after AT&T and Deustche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, requested their application be pulled from the Federal Communications Commission. The commission later granted that approval, though the two sides disagreed over whether it could reject it.

Huvelle had initially set a February start date, but the judge expressed concerns about whether the case should be heard at all. The withdrawal of the application means that AT&T and Deutsche Telekom are likely to significantly restructure the deal.

AT&T and T-Mobile pulled their application two days after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the deal was not in the public interest and signaled that the deal was in serious trouble.The companies need the FCC's approval for the deal to go through, and any eventual deal also would have to pass muster with the Justice Department.

At the time, the two companies said the move was to focus their attention on the DOJ case. But Justice clearly sees no reason to push forward with the case until the two companies re-file with the FCC.

Also Read: FCC Permits AT&T & T-Mobile to Withdraw Merger Application (Updated)

AT&T insists its deal would create jobs and benefit wireless customers, something the FCC reports refutes.

Said AT&T in a statement Friday, after Wayland's announcement: "We are anxious to bring to the American consumer the benefits of increased wireless network capacity and efficiencies that can only arise from combining the resources of AT&T and T-Mobile USA.  We are eager to present our case in court."

Also Read: AT&T Lashes Out at FCC Over T-Mobile Deal, FCC Responds (Updated)

Both the FCC and Justice have indicated they believe that the proposed merger, which would combine the second and fourth largest wireless service providers, would inhibit competition.

After the FCC decided to release its staff analysis of the potential merger, AT&T publicly rebuked the federal agency and accused it of being prejudiced.

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