Bad News: AT&T / BellSouth Proposed Merger

Via Dave Farber:

It will be interesting to see what happens when the FCC begins reviewing thereported and alleged merger of the AT&T/BellSouth deal. As it may be a much different Commission body with the hopes of Robert McDowell’s confirmation by the Senate.

Mr. McDowell is a telecom lawyer who currently serves as
assistant general counsel at Comptel and opponent of the AT&T and Verizon
mergers last year. Mr. McDowell is scheduled to appear before a Senate
committee on Thursday for his confirmation and is likely to be asked about
the merger.

I can’t imagine this will be, in any way positive for our lagging broadband services. Read “We thought you said spend the $200 billion on dark fiber” for more on this mess.