![]() ![]() But McDowell reaffirmed his decision to stay out of the discussion and not to vote on the merger. This left only four commissioners to decide the fate of the merger.Īfter it became clear that the Democrats would approve the merger only with certain conditions and that Republicans favored few if any conditions, the FCC's general counsel cleared McDowell to vote to break the tie. Meanwhile, the fifth commissioner, Robert McDowell, a Republican, had recused himself from the vote because before his confirmation to the FCC earlier this year, he had represented an industry group opposed to the merger. This infuriated the two FCC Democratic commissioners, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, who had expected some conditions to be placed on the merger. ![]() Even though regulators approved these mergers only on the basis of certain conditions, the deal between AT&T and BellSouth easily won unconditional approval earlier this year from the antitrust division of the Department of Justice. In 2005, Verizon Communications announced the acquisition of MCI, and SBC Communications said it would acquire AT&T. The merger follows two other major telecommunications mergers. The merger was approved by 4-0 vote.įirst announced in March, the merger will create a super-size AT&T that will become the nation's dominant phone company, controlling more than half the telephone and Internet access lines in the U.S. The commission, which had been for months on what-if any-conditions should be imposed on the merger, accepted conditions that AT&T had proposed in a formal letter sent to the commission on Thursday. The Federal Communications Commission approved the roughly $86 billion megamerger between AT&T and BellSouth on Friday, ending a partisan standoff. ![]()
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