AT&T and T-Mobile: Hail Mary, 11th Hour Save Needed

by Gina Smith
2 min read

They used to stuff folks in phone booths. Remember that? Well, today’s students are recreating it — and AT&T is out to stuff its own metaphorical phone booth with its 11th hour save of its planned T-Mobile acquisition.

Told you! – ed. A&T would have to have a Hail Mary plan for save its planned acquisition from Federal regulators. gs
 
This reminds me, in a strange way, of that old 1950s activity, re-enacted below, of phone booth stuffing. You think AT&T can swing it? Hmm. Unlike the size of phone booths and the skinniness of participants, smallness and flexibility isn’t on the behemoth’s side. This will all hang on AT&T’s lobbying and extensive powerbroker syndicate in Washington DC. Below the video is an excerpt from an NYC piece on this below, breaking.

BY ANDREW ROSS SORKIN Randall Stephenson, the chairman of AT&T, knew it would not be easy to persuade regulators to approve the T-Mobile deal. 
 
About an hour after AT&T announced its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile in March on a Sunday afternoon, I got a call at home. It was Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and chief executive. Mr. Stephenson, an affable man with a wry sense of humor, knew he would face a battle persuading regulators the deal should be approved. And with me.

As I peppered him with questions about why the government would possibly allow the No. 2 and No. 4 telephone carriers to merge — a textbook example of creating a duopoly between AT&T and Verizon if there ever was one — he deftly stood his ground. He was convinced the deal would happen.

“When you get to the facts, this is a deal that gets approved,” he insisted, rattling off a list of …  READ THE REST OF THIS BREAKING STORY HERE.

 

 

 

 

You may also like