Refreshing...

Refreshing...

If AT&T didn’t see it coming, I don’t believe that the FCC saw it coming either. That is, the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) antitrust suit to block the AT&T/T-Mobile merger that was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court. Obviously, this is Washington, D.C., and the stakes are huge on a number of fronts, so it isn’t over until it’s over. Deals can be struck in the nick of time to make all sides almost but not quite pleased with the final outcome. More attuned analysts in such matters than me are saying that there is the possibility of this litigation being mixed with negotiations that could very well result in a settlement in due time.<--break->We shall see, but I am still focused on Chairman Genachowski’s four sentence statement that was released yesterday noting that “Competition is an essential component of the FCC’s statutory public interest analysis, and although our process is not complete, the record before this agency also raises serious concerns about the proposed transaction on competition.” Ok, but I would have expected the FCC to have been in support of the merger before the DoJ’s suit as AT&T was touting the fact that one of the benefits would be that broadband service would be extended to 55 million new folks in those nasty hard to reach geographic locations. You just know that was music to the Agency’s ears. But I observe that the Chairman’s statement yesterday in response to the suit did not mention directly or indirectly anything having to do with the pursuit of the “National Broadband Plan.” You know, that was refreshing.