The Hill News

Watching AT&T try to save its proposed merger with T-Mobile is like watching a remake of The Sixth Sense: The lead character is dead but doesn’t know it yet. 

As much as AT&T pretends to the contrary, the takeover flat-lined last week when the FCC indicated it would oppose the deal. While some observers framed the FCC’s move to designate the merger for an “administrative hearing” as just another setback for AT&T, it was actually a fatal blow. The Department of Justice blocks mergers with lawsuits; the FCC does the same with hearings.

More damning than what the FCC was about to do were the reasons behind that decision. The agency rejected the claims in AT&T’s advertising and lobbying blitz, concluding that the merger would be a massive jobs killer that wouldn’t lead to faster rollout of 4G services to rural America. The FCC also confirmed the Department of Justice’s analysis that the merger would do immeasurable harm to competition ! and innovation.

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