MMTC Endorses AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council (MMTC) has endorsed the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, the first time in its quarter-century history it has endorsed any merger, saying it does so through the "prism" of securing equal opportunities for minorities in the media.

MMTC says it has done its due diligence on the deal, will monitor evidence and reserves the right to "modify" its position if it is wrong, but that given the public interest benefits it has identified, the merger is needed to ease capacity constraints that could drive up prices and hurt adoption, particularly for minority consumers. It also pointed out that the NAACP also supports the deal. MMTC says the deal would be a short-term solution that "would buy the nation the time it needs to implement a long-term cure for the spectrum crunch through such mechanisms as spectrum incentive auctions and repurposing of some government spectrum." MMTC also argues that the deal will extend AT&T's diversity hiring practices and "neutrality toward unionization." AT&T has made the point to legislators that it is the only unionized work force among the major carriers. In a conference call with reporters, MMTC President David Honig said that while AT&T supported MMTC's latest conference with a $100,000 sponsorship, the company did not provide any funds in connection with its support of the deal and added that MMTC would have rejected such funds if it had.