FCC chief seeks to end AT&T-BellSouth stalemate
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U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has sought a ruling that could permit a recused commissioner to cast a tie-breaking vote allowing AT&T Inc.  to acquire BellSouth Corp. , an agency official told Reuters on Friday.
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(InfoWorld) - Kevin Martin, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is trying to get the ball rolling toward a decision on AT&T Inc.'s proposed acquisition of BellSouth Corp. The commission appears to be deadlocked 2-2 on whether to approve the deal. The fifth vote that could break that tie belongs to Commissioner Robert McDowell, who is likely to be disqualified because he has worked for a carrier lobbying group, according to news reports. The US$67 billion deal would combine two of the nation's biggest service providers in a company that would include Cingular Wireless LLC, currently a joint venture of the two companies. Consumer advocates and other critics have slammed the plan. AT&T has negotiated with the government and agreed to some conditions, but the two Democrat Commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, still oppose the acquisition. Martin last week wrote a letter to tell key members of Congress he was asking the FCC's general counsel to consider letting McDowell vote, an FCC spokesman confirmed Monday. Under the Code of Federal Regulations, McDowell could vote if the counsel determined that the government's interest in having him participate outweighed "concern that a reasonable person may question the integrity of the agency's programs and operations." The companies announced the planned acquisition in March, and the U.S. Department of Justice approved the proposed deal without conditions in October. An FCC vote on it has been delayed several times.
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In 1997, when rumors flew that regional phone giant SBC Communications Inc. and AT&T Corp. might agree to a $50 billion merger, Reed E. Hundt, who was Federal Communications Commission chairman, called such a deal "unthinkable."
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U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell will be permitted to cast the tie-breaking vote on AT&T Inc.'s  proposed acquisition of BellSouth Corp. , the agency's general counsel said on Friday.
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The nation's chief communications regulator on Thursday defended a public statement in which he said he wouldn't enforce some conditions imposed on AT&amp;T Corp. as a condition of approving its buyout of BellSouth Corp.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. senators questioned Thursday whether members of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission plan to enforce merger conditions that AT&T Inc. agreed to in its December acquisition of BellSouth Corp. Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned why FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate issued a joint statement while approving the merger saying the FCC couldn't broadly enforce some of AT&T's concessions. "What I find difficult to understand is that ... you said that you do not intend to stand by the deal that was reached," said Senator Daniel Inouye, the committee chairman and a Hawaii Democrat. Martin and Tate, both Republicans, had protested a net neutrality condition, preventing AT&T from giving priority transmission speeds to its own or its partners' Web content for at least two years. The net neutrality conditions "very well may cause greater problems than the speculative problems they seek to address," Martin and Tate said in the statement Dec. 29. Martin on Thursday said he intends to hold AT&T to the net neutrality agreement, but he doesn't plan to impose those standards on other broadband carriers. "Since [AT&T] volunteered to do that, we would enforce that," he said. "That does not mean we were changing our policy." Martin also suggested another part of the agreement setting out wholesale rates for some data services may be unenforceable. "What is your legal authority as chairman ... to not enforce something you just did?" asked Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat. AT&T agreed to lower the wholesale special access prices for DS1, DS3, and Ethernet services available to some regional telecom carriers and large businesses, but not to large competitors. But the FCC's policy in the past has been that wholesale discounts should apply to all customers, Martin said. "That tariff actually has some components that I believe are illegal under the commission precedent," Martin said. "They can file [the proposed discount], but I'm not committing to approving something that would be in violation of our precedent. We don't allow for that kind of discrimination." But Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat who pushed for conditions on the AT&T merger, noted that the FCC adopted the AT&T merger conditions on a 4-0 vote. "It's hard for me to understand why we can't implement something we adopted unanimously," he said. Senators also urged the FCC to work on ways to get broadband service to rural, inner city and poor areas. The FCC on Wednesday issued a report saying the number of high-speed lines in the U.S. increased by 26 percent during the first half of 2006, from 51.2 million to 64.6 million lines in service. The number of high-speed lines grew by 21 percent in the second half of 2005. Senators also pointed to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's latest study saying the U.S. ranks 12th in broadband adoption rate among industrialized nations. Commissioner Michael Copps called on Congress and the FCC to develop a national broadband strategy. He called the U.S. broadband adoption rates "woeful." "I am really worried that we can go into the 21st century and have a bigger digital divide in this country ... than we had back in the days of plain, old telephone service in the 20th century," he said. "This just isn't feel-good liberal theory -- we're talking about the competitiveness of the United States of America."
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The head of the Federal  Communications Commission expressed concern on Tuesday that the  credit crunch could hinder bidders in an upcoming government  auction of wireless airwaves.
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Gary Forsee, chief executive of Sprint-Nextel, spoke about efforts to right the companyâs ship.
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The Federal Communications Commission is pushing ahead to pass a rule today that would allow more consolidation of local media ownership in the nation's largest cities, despite the fresh threat of a legislative rebuke and continued protests from advocacy groups.
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U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has asked for a legal ruling on whether a recused commissioner could cast a tie-breaking vote on AT&T Inc.'s  proposed acquisition of BellSouth Corp. , an FCC official told Reuters on Friday.
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The chairman of the U.S. Senate's  antitrust subcommittee on Wednesday urged regulators to block  Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s proposed acquisition of XM  Satellite Radio Holdings Inc..
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The once-certain merger process between the largest US telephone company, AT&T Inc., and former "baby Bell" and regional telephone carrier BellSouth, could perhaps be delayed further on account of a curious federal district judge. His hearings into why the AT&T/SBC and Verizon/MCI mergers were expedited by the Justice Dept. could raise skepticism about the viability of AT&T/BellSouth.
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Senate Democrats pressed the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission yesterday to slap tighter controls on media ownership, public-interest broadcasting and television violence.
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The Federal Communications  Commission chairman said on Friday he wants to make it possible  for small and independently owned businesses to lease  television spectrum from broadcasters, to promote diversity in  the industry.
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Senate Democrats urged the head of the Federal Communications Commission today to take a more challenging approach to the industries he oversees.
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More than 70 lawmakers on  Monday urged antitrust authorities to block the proposed merger  of the nation&#39;s two satellite radio companies, contending that  the deal is anticompetitive.
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With federal regulators deadlocked on what may prove to be the largest telecommunications merger in history, news about progress on the deal has become scarce and highly coveted.