AT&T's Campaign for Compromise

AT&T'S CAMPAIGN FOR COMPROMISE
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek 11/27, AUTHOR: Steve Rosenbush]
Discussions have reached a critical stage between merger partners AT&T and BellSouth and the Democrats in Washington who have held up approval of the companies' $79.3 billion deal. AT&T and BellSouth are willing to make concessions in a bid to assuage government concerns over the elimination of a potential competitor in the lucrative market for business telecommunications services. Analysts say there's a good chance the companies will know by the end of the week whether they can reach a compromise. Lawmakers such as Representative John Dingell (D-MI) have become more vocal about their reservations since the Democrats took control of the House and Senate in the Nov. 7 general election. If a compromise is reached, the deal could be approved at the Dec. 20 meeting of the Federal Communications Commission or at an FCC meeting in January. "We will know more this week," says former FCC official Blair Levin, now a regulatory analyst with researcher Stifel Nicolaus. "The odds still favor the deal being done in December, although there's a decent chance that it slips into January." Industry analysts say there are three issues at stake: Network Neutrality, the rates that AT&T charges rivals to connect to its networks, and whether it should be forced to sell off some of its wireless spectrum.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061127_092741...