Obama administration moves to block AT&T merger

The FCC’s move against AT&T Inc.’s $39 billion purchase of a smaller rival may signal tougher enforcement of corporate mergers by the Obama administration.

AT&T withdrew its application yesterday from the Federal Communications Commission after agency Chairman Julius Genachowski on Nov. 22 asked fellow commissioners to send the proposed purchase of T-Mobile USA Inc. to a hearing, signaling an attempt to block the deal. The Justice Department already has sued to block the deal as anticompetitive, with a U.S. district court trial set to commence in February.

The twin actions on the merger follow the Justice Department’s success in preventing H&R Block Inc. from a deal that would have combined the second- and third-largest providers of tax preparation software. The AT&T transaction would combine the second- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless companies.

“The Obama administration has gotten much more aggressive in antitrust than the Bush administration was,” Jeffrey Jacobovitz, an antitrust litigator with McCarthy, Sweeney & Harkaway PC in Washington, said in an interview. “It’s a new dawn for merger enforcement.”

More at Bloomberg Businessweek.

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