Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt has voiced an opinion on the Department of Justice decision to sue AT&T in order to block their takeover of AT&T and T-Mobile fans are going to like what he has to say. “AT&T is certain to lose” Hundt said to SNL expressing that the acquisition was clearly anti-competitive. “It’s an extremely easy case. The Department of Justice will win the case in court. No Question about it.”
AT&T had hoped that federal regulators would consider the takeover based on a market-by-market analysis, rather than by looking at the wireless market on a nationwide level. Hundt said that the Department of Justice would determine if the deal is anti-competitive or not based on both scenarios, market-by-market and nationally.
AT&T believes they will prevail in court or perhaps avoid court using a two-pronged strategy offering large enough concessions and sway the DOJ back onto the side of approving the takeover. While both AT&T and Deutsche Telekom remain confident that everything is still under control, it’s clear yet again that this deal will prove harder to accomplish than both companies originally thought.